The Power Keeper: A Gathering of Heroes
by The Power Keeper
Summary: Nicholas Swiftsword, the newest Power Keeper in 1000 years, embarks in a journey to unite the heroes of the world, meeting new allies, as well as enemies, along the way. Tamriel, Emerald Hills, Skylands, Midgar, Equestria, the Four Nations, Hyrule...this is but a small portion of the world of The Power Keeper.
1. Chapter 1- The Beginning of the End Pt 1

-Chapter I- The Beginning of the End Pt. 1

-Whiterun, Skyrim

-15 First Seed

-1:00 P.M.

-Nicholas

I sat in my bedroom, waiting for I did not know what. I just positioned myself on my bed, in complete mental ignorance of what events lie ahead for me in the days to come. Today, I start my training to be the new dragonborn, a time I've been dreading for years, even before I knew what it had meant.

I am Nicholas Swiftsword V, a name handed down the past few generations of my family, earned by my great grandfather, most commonly known as the Hero of Kvatch. He had been the one who had saved the people of Cyrodiil from the cruel wrath of the Daedric Prince: Mehrunes Dagon in the Oblivion Crisis. He had first appeared in Cyrodiil under unknown circumstances, and whenever he was asked, he claimed he had not remembered anything prior to waking up in a prison cell.

Ever since, the Swiftsword family proudly kept the name. My father, Nicholas Swiftsword IV, was the first dragonborn to appear in Tamriel since the Oblivion Crisis, when he was arrested for illegally crossing the border from Cyrodiil to Skyrim. Every time he was questioned for doing so, he always said a strange force overcame him. Some say it was Talos himself.

A familiar voice awoke from my mental slumber.

"Nick, open up!" comes from behind the door.

_ Great._ I thought**,**_show time. _I start to get up, but I end up slumping back into my original position. Hoping to be able to pass up on my "responsibilities" and "duties" as the dragonborn, waiting for either to be scorned or let go. Of course, I never do get what I usually hope for.

"Nick, get out here, now!"

"Just a second!" I responded.

"Come on, the sages are in the courtyard waiting for you."

_The sages_...my mind began to wander off again. About five years ago, in one of the Pokemon Regions known as Unova, a huge civil war between an army called "Team Plasma" had commenced. The seven sages originally had sought out to free pokémon from what they thought to be abusive trainers, but, after discovering the leader Ghetsis' true intentions of trying to rule the world, some of the sages went to stand up against him. However, others still sided with him. After the fight, all that remained of them wanted to see if they could use their "wisdom" to help "enlighten" me.

"Coming!" I responded. My body at last caught up with with my mind, and I got up. As I started to walk towards the door, I stopped in front of a shelf mounted on the wall a short distance from the door. It wasn't much, just a small collection of different bits of junk I've found over the years. But I looked at the newest edition to the tiny horde, a small figurine I found not even a week ago, when I was out in the sparring arena practicing my swordsmanship with a few men. It was a small mushroom man. He held up a slingshot, aiming with a single eye at its target, at an unknown entity visible only to him, staring into its own world.

"_Nick_!" I jumped "Come on! I know how easily distracted you get, so _get out here!_"

"Right, sorry" I say as I open the door, revealing my mentor, Max. He was from a neighboring country not so well known called Guardiana. He was taller, with green eyes, looking at me through a couple of long, orange strands of hair hanging over his face.

"It's alright," he said, "were you daydreaming again?"

"I was thinking, is all," I replied.

He shook his head and turned around to lead me outside. As we started to walk to the training center, going through the intersecting halls in between my room and the outside. I look at Max, he was like my best friend, as well as my only friend. He was my greatest ally. My father was never around, in fact I had never even met him, but Max was always there for me, making sure I never got into trouble. I could trust him with anything.

I remembered once he told me that one of the reasons he came in the first place was that he knew my father very well. They never told me how they met though. I knew him my whole life, or at least, as far back as I can remember. After a couple of minutes lost in thought again, I turn my attention to the multiple weapons, objects, and artifacts in glass cases that lined the walls of the halls we walked through to get upstairs on the ground floor. I looked at all the unique things in the halls and rooms of the building.

I remembered that Max had told me that this used to be the Companions quarters, but when they learned that the newest dragonborn needed a place to be trained and raised, they gladly offered their own home for the son of the Harbinger, or their leader, of the organization. I didn't know what that meant at the time, but I eventually learned the customs of each guild in Skyrim, including the Companions, which are a small group of nords who help whoever they can, often doing wayward jobs; the thieves guild, a group of thieves looking to make any profit on anything they can get their hands on, who have apparently been seen working alongside with the Dark Brotherhood, or a league of assassins, for years; and the College of Winterhold, a school for mages, wizards, and the such.

We climbed up the stairs into something a lot like a mess hall, being a large room with banners hung up everywhere. A long room first created to give the Companions somewhere to dine, but ending up as a mead hall more than anything, with two long tables on each side parallel to a fire pit in the middle, providing as both a heat source, and a light source.

Turning left from there and opening the doors that led to what used to be the Companion's sparring yard, and is now the only place in all of Skyrim, no, Tamriel that I despise more than anything. As Max opened the doors leading outside I was temporarily blinded by the fierce light escaping through the doors, emanating off the sun, onto my face, straight into my eyes. But as I found out not even five minutes later, the real pain had yet to begin.


	2. Chapter 2- The Beginning of the End Pt 2

-Chapter II- The Beginning of the End Pt. 2

-Whiterun, Skyrim

-17 First Seed

-1:42 P.M.

-Max

Max stood there, watching Nicholas as he displayed his tremendous skills in the way of swordsmanship, hacking about two or three of the straw dummies laid throughout the courtyard, spraying straw everywhere. _Yes, he is the one..._ Max thought to himself as the seemingly displeased sages watched Nicholas in disappointment.

He walked to where the sages stood, asking them, "So, what do you think? He's got the agility, strength, and is quite clever." He complimented.

"This may be so, but he's hard-headed. He needs to carefully think out his plans before striking." Rood answered.

"I agree, he needs to make his battle plan before doing anything else." Remarked another sage.

"And how come he has only had but a few days of training? Shouldn't he be focusing on improving his skills for an extended length of time?" A third chimed in.

"He'll learn. And besides, no other dragonborn has ever done such a thing, for them it was solely kill or be killed." Max answered. He turned to the third sage. "He has spent his whole life honing his skills in the art of swordsmanship, and is very close to mastering it. And as for the shouts, a dragonborn is a being with a soul of a dragon, whom is able to shout without any training whatsoever, so if he were given any advice in shouting, we wouldn't be able to truly tell if he is destined to be a dovahkiin."

"Although that may be true-" A sage started to intercept before being interrupted by the raising of Max's hand.

"And how exactly, may I ask, would you know anything about Tamriel's history? If I recall, you originated from the 'Pokemon Regions', is that correct? Therefore, technically, you are lucky to have any say in the matter at all. Please be somewhat considerate and at least " Max asked, silencing the sages for a while. Just in time to see Nicholas finish his review.

"How was that?" He asked.

"Very good, Nick." Max assured him, glancing for only a moment at the remnants of the sages.

"I must admit, he is quick, and he lives up to his name. He is agile, powerful, and makes the most of his movements." Which was a statement of which was extremely true, for Nicholas took advantage of whatever position he was currently in. Even whenever he was in the middle of a strike, whether it be another target behind him, and he's practically to the ground, and he spins around, knocking his opponent off their feet, placing them at the ground at his mercy, a trick that Max had taught him when he was still very young. Ever since, Max had become a victim of his own technique.

_Yes, he has to be the one._ Max thought to himself once more, before heading inside the building with the rest of the group. Now only one more important test was to come to Nick before his training as dragonborn: using a shout.

Only the dragonborn could use a "shout" (draconic words used as magic by humans) without any sort of training. As he started moving a thought struck him: he'd never even seen Nicholas attempt at using the draconic language. _Even if he isn't what he seems to be to the others, I know who he really is, dragonborn or not. After all, I have a promise to keep. _Max started toward the building, meeting with the others.

"I must admit, I am quite impressed with what you have displayed of your skills, Swiftsword, and hopefully, the test tomorrow shall prove all of our suspicions. After all, you are the son of the former dragonborn!" One of the sages declared, a glass of Blackbriar Mead held high, followed by cheering.

Although everyone else was enjoying the mead and celebration, both Max and Nicholas weren't doing so quite yet, not until it was confirmed. After what seemed of a great amount of time dedicated to the feast, all the people eventually retired to their rooms one by one, readying themselves for the next day.

Max stood in the doorway of his room, which held only a bed up against a wall, with a nightstand to its left, and a desk going along the opposite wall. He lit the candles on the nightstand, and started to pull out a small stack of paper, until he heard feet shuffling behind him. Turning around, he found Nick standing there, watching with a nervous look. Sheathing a small steel blade that he was about to strike with, "What are you doing?" Max asked him, "You need to prepare yourself for tomorrow."

"What is there to prepare for? All I'm doing is going out there, shouting, if I can that is, and more celebration if I do it correctly." Nick argued.

Seeing his point, Max allowed Nick into his room, asking him, "All right, but you have yet to have answered my question. What are you doing?"

"I don't know if I can do this, I've never even attempted to shout before."

"Neither did your father. If you recall, he accidentally came across his power when he had killed the dragon attacking the..." Stopping for a moment to ensure his memory did not deceive him, Max continued, "Western guard tower of Whiterun. When he absorbed the soul of the beast, the guards, dumbfounded, asked for him to test his abilities to shout. When he uttered the draconic words he had discovered in Bleak Falls Barrow, he used the unrelenting force shout, emitting an enormous push in the direction of which he spoke on everything."

"Why was he in Bleak Falls?"

"To do a favor for a shopkeeper in Riverwood. After finding it, he decided to go even further into the dungeon. Eventually he found himself in a large room with a large black wall of titanite with words of the draconic language carved into it, known as a 'word wall', guarded by a sarcophagus. That sarcophagus held a Draugr Deathlord, carrying a dragonstone. Something of which he hadn't a clue what it was, until, that is, when the court wizard of Whiterun, Farengar Secret-Fire, asked him to 'fetch' it for him." A moment of silence followed afterward. "Look, don't worry, you're going to be fine, I know."

"How? How do you know everything's going to be just fine?"

"Because I do. Trust me." Another moment of silence followed.

"Max?" Nick asked.

"Yes?"

"How did you meet?"

"Excuse me?"

"How did you meet my father?"

"We were friends for a while. We met after the event with the Shining Force."

"What was the Shining Force anyway? You talk about it sometimes...but you've never really explained it before."

"It was a small militia. Nothing more."

"Then why is it so well known in Rune?"

"Because we had traveled all over, adding new members. Even a few that no one had ever expected."

"Like?"

Leaning back up against the wall that the bed was up against, Max began to see where this discussion was headed. Here came a trip through memory lane. "Well for starters we had a human-sized hamster, Jogurt." Max told him with a smile, slightly chuckling. "He wore a helmet and pretty much worthless in battle, but we was fun to have around."

"Then why have him? Isn't the point of an army supposed to be strength? If you have someone who can't fight, then they're just a waste of space."

"Not true, even if they can't fight. Then they could be a really nice asset. Like someone to lighten things up, especially if you're in dark times...or healers, they are extremely crucial. If you have no healers or medics, then it's hard not to lose your men. My best friend was a healer, Lowe. Strategy and power are completely different points when it comes to battles and war. You need defense, strength, plans, back-up plans, and of course, faith. Without faith, well you might as well give up now." Max had usually been soft-spoken his entire life, but Nick was...different. The two were very close, as very good friends.

After about a minute of silence, with Max and Nick exchanging awkward looks, Nick broke the quiet, "I guess I should go, it's getting a little late..." Max nodded in agreement and watched as Nick turned and left the small room. _T_o_morrow, it all truly begins._ He thought, lowering his head. He slowly stood, and turned back towards his nightstand and reluctantly retrieved the stack of paper and walked to the desk. He quietly opened one of the drawers and took a quill and a small inkwell, and began writing.


	3. Chapter 3- Heroes Never Die

-Chapter III- The First Battle

-Whiterun, Skyrim

-16 First Seed

-6:30 A.M.

-Nicholas

_Oh. I. Am. Screwed._ I thought looking at the expressions on everyone's faces as I stood before the course I was to run. They all looked at me in expectancy, as though I am under no circumstances supposed to fail. Practice dummies were scattered throughout the area, so that the audience would be enabled to see my agility and strength. I was given only a simple iron shortsword to work with, and it didn't have much of a reach. I nervously looked around, seeing the dozens of pairs of eyes focused on me. I stood perfectly still, paralyzed in fear, and though I already known about this event for years now, I still felt like it came out of nowhere. Like running face-first into a brick wall.

The signal of the beginning of the course was signaled simply by Max commanding "Go", and I was off. I bobbed and weaved through the numerous dummies to demonstrate my agility, then I started attacking. Without stopping, I held the sword straight from my arm to start cutting through the soft material the dummies were made from, opening large holes in their drawn faces and spilling hay everywhere, leaving a trail behind me. At one of the points of the track there were two dummies I was to kill at the same time, to do this, I jumped up into the air, and spun around, sword still held out as far as possible, and as soon as my feet touched the ground, I was moving once more.

The only scent was that of the straw that was now in piles all over the place, seeming to be raining from the sky. _Don't screw up, don't screw up... this would be the worst possible time to screw up._ I thought, still concentrating on the setup in front of me. After about twenty minutes of the exercise, there was only one dummy left. To finish off, and leaped high into the air and stabbed downwards to the dummy, impaling it not only with my sword, but with the added force form the jump I went straight through it. Covered in straw, sweat, and dirt, I slowly rose, looking behind me to see the remnants of the poorly made figure. All that was left was a stick stuck in the ground.

I looked to where Max and the Sages stood, and they seemed extremely satisfied with the results. The only thing I needed to do now was shout. At a pull of a rope by one of the sages, a dozen dummies shot up into the air. For about a second, time seemed to slow down, and I watched as the shower of hay slowly fell to Earth. Everyone went silent, even the birds that usually chirp were hushed. I took a deep breath...and shouted.

"Fus...roh-DAH!"

My body went numb as I watched in horror as the dummies landed, completely untouched by the words of the dragons. I fell to the ground, feeling the glares and gazes of disappointment and hatred wrap around me. I slowly looked up at Max, who did not seem surprised at all. He only nodded, turned and left, his gaze never leaving the ground. I felt useless, and all the people started murmuring. Slowly, they disbanded, one by one, and eventually they had all left.

It was only me and the Sages left. I got up, expecting a downpour of hatred and insults to surround me. And that was exactly what I got. Anger was drawn across all their faces. "If you are incapable of shouting, I do not see the reason you have wasted are time." one told me.

"Retire to your room for now, Nicholas. We know it is not your fault, but leave us to think what could have went wrong." Rood commanded, trying to muffle the touch of disappointment in his voice and replace it with confusion. I slowly turned and leave, my face still in shock.

I sat down on my bed when I returned to my room, and once more, lost myself in thought. I replayed the scene in my head again and again in my head to find my mistake, but my efforts were fruitless. I buried my face in my hands and began rubbing my temples. I closed my eyes and stared into the endless void of darkness for an unknown amount of time. Eventually, despite the early hour I slowly drifted off to sleep.

I found myself in some sort of fortress, my vision somewhat blurry. The place had large metal walls that seemed to go on for miles, surrounding large buildings spitting black smoke out of large chimneys, a layout that resembled a Concentration Camp. Beyond the walls I could see a sea of black, with numerous pipes spewing large streams of oil into the murky water.

Though the sun shone brightly through some sort of shield, the evil robotic fortress was dark... Some sort of creatures walked about as prisoners, bound by chains and walked in straight lines led by robotic pirates. I heard someone calling my name, and I woke up from the nightmare.

I had fallen on the floor of my room, when I opened my eyes I found myself on my hand, which felt like pins and needles. I drowsily looked up at Max, leaning against the wall next to my bedroom door. "You okay?" He asked with a concerned look on his face.

"You knew, didn't you?" I asked angrily.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence, he took a deep breath and pushed himself off the wall, standing over me. "What?"

"You know exactly what."

"...yes, I knew."

I stood up. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why would you let me go out there, and make a fool of myself? How long have you known? And...and..." I trail off, finding myself at a loss for words.

"I..." he started, closing his eyes and sitting on the bed. He took another deep breath before speaking again. "...For a time. You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't understand..." I repeated quietly to myself. "I wouldn't _understand_?" He nodded. "So my entire life was nothing but a lie, and I'm now a disappointment to the hundreds of thousands of people of Tamriel, and no one, especially not me, knew until today when I'm in front of all the people of Whiterun just to mess up, because I wouldn't _understand?_"

"Nick..." he started, looking like he was holding back tears.

"My whole life...get out." I commanded.

He opened his mouth to speak, but instead got up off the bed and left the room, leaving me alone once more. I sighed, feeling conflicted. I didn't know if I was depressed, angered, or just hurt. It wasn't the fact that I wasn't dragonborn, it was just that everything that I always my life would end up being wasn't going to come true. And I had nothing.

I slowly lied down on my bed, my mind blank and not knowing what to think. I felt conflicted, I felt like I hated Max, but at the same time I knew that I didn't. He was my only friend...what reason would he have for doing something like this? Keeping me in here in Whiterun for no purpose whatsoever, making me believe that I am something that I'm not. For fifteen years. I've been living a lie, and my whole life seemed to have just crumbled within the blink of an eye.

_What else is a lie?_ I thought. I closed my eyes, desperately trying to fall back asleep. I lied there for a few minutes in the darkness of my room, and the complete silence. After being still and trying to relax despite...recent events...

Eventually, I slowly drifted off, everything getting fuzzy, then my eyelids getting heavier and heavier, until I finally slept, relieved of stress and able to forget about my problems. The next thing I knew, I awoke to everyone being in a frenzy, it was loud, and I was in a daze, unable to think clearly and barely even conscience.

At first I was still in bed, then I was in the hallway, looking at all the Nords passing by me equipped with numerous swords, axes, and maces of numerous sizes and origins (orcish, elven, nordic, etc.) that were most likely found elsewhere throughout Skyrim. A lot to take in without even realizing you're taking it in.

After that, I was on the floor of the mead hall, being pushed around by the plethora of warriors moving non-stop, each coming in through the stairs leading down, and out through one of the four doors leading out into Whiterun. I felt a rush of the brisk early morning air on my skin, sending chills down my spine. After that someone grabbed me and I found myself back in my room, with a single candle lighting nearly the entire room. I was looking up at Max, who was grabbing me on the shoulders.

"Stay put." he commanded, eyes widened. He was pale in the dim candlelight, he was scared. Max has never been scared.

Within a blink of an eye I was sitting back on my bed, and Max had left the room. A little more awake and alert, I got up and left the room once more. I had to prove myself, that I was not just some wannabe, though not a dovahkiin, a skilled warrior. I was going to go out there and join the fight, whatever it was, it had to have been huge.

I slowly walked through the hall that led from my room, and looked at the eerily empty and quiet halls. The fact that the halls had been bustling with activity just moments before and now are so quiet that the only sound is the silence itself. My footsteps echoed through the halls, and I found myself eventually tiptoeing the on going building to not break the silence. I slowly started to concoct an idea on how to do this. First I was going to need a weapon.

Any weapon, really. But preferably the sort of weapon I was used too, the very weapon I was trained with and for, a sword. Luckily, I just happen to know where the weapons were kept. As I continued to slowly make my way through the hall, I was on the watch for anyone that strayed from the group and came back for any reason. No one yet.

I stopped in front of one of the doors closer to the stairs leading back up to the mead hall, and slowly grabbed and turned the wooden handle. I cringed when I heard the creaking sound that came from the opening door and stopped what I was doing, then almost had a panic attack thinking that someone may have heard it as it reverberated through the empty building.

I tried once more at opening the door as stealthily as possible, moving it so slowly that it barely seemed to be moving, any faster and the loud creaking would begin again. As soon as I was able to fit through the crack of the door, I slid past it and slowly shut the door behind me so no one could sneak up on me from behind. I sighed heavily as soon as it was ajar, then turned towards the numerous blades hanging on the walls and weapon racks.

In front of me were an assortment of different weapons used throughout the ages of different styles and sizes, all gathered for defense and training exercises. The room was once a bunk room with beds lining the walls and small chests and drawers for personal belongings when Jorrvaskr was owned by the Companions and led by Kodlak Whitemane, that is, before his death.

I slowly gazed at the plethora of blades in awe, amazed just imagining the damage they could cause. I paced back and forth through the long room deciding which I should pick. Something simple and subtle, as to not attract any attention to myself, or, not yet at least.

I slowly reached my hand out for a long silver longsword in one of the numerous weapon racks. I pulled it out, feeling the cold steel handle beneath my stiff fingers. I lifted it with almost no trouble, but then decided it was almost too heavy. After all, a sword too big in the battlefield could be a disadvantage, if it were too heavy in the heat of battle with all your stamina drained, what good would a weapon be if you couldn't use it? I quietly placed the sharpened metal back in its place.

_This could be a little more challenging than I expected..._ I thought. There was quite an assortment of axes, and maces seemed to be the majority of the weaponry, dozens of bows hanging on the wall with a quiver of arrows to match, but I limited myself to the collection of swords. One after another, I tried all different kinds, (even the more exotic ones) and they seemed wrong. Most warriors had their tools of destruction made custom to _their_ strength and balance.

Finally I found a sword that worked well enough. I felt the light blade in my hand, deciding whether or not I could use it. It seemed easy enough to carry, looked pretty strong. I lightly tapped the edge of the iron to check its sharpness, and it wasn't too bad. The balance was off a little, but other than that it was good enough.

I studied the design of the blade for a few seconds, then realized that it was the same blade from the test this morning. I raised over my head about ready to throw it at the wall, then I slowly lowered the sword and sighed. I found its sheath, and searched for a sword belt that would fit me. I found one within seconds.

I turned around and started to make my way for the door, but it started to open. A heard a familiar voice come from the other side. "What's this doing open...?" I unsheathed my sword so that I could move easier, and threw my weight to the side, rolling under a long table that was covered in a various assortment of knives and daggers.

Rood came from the other side of the door as it opened with a loud creak, peeked his head into the room, and looked around. My heart was pounding as he shrugged and left the room, closing the door behind him. I waited a few everlasting seconds before I left my hiding place, hearing footsteps muffled from behind the door, getting quieter and quieter until I could hear them no more.

I released the breath I'd been holding when he came in, and sighed with relief. I crawled out from under the table, and placed the sword back in its sheath once more. I waited a little while before opening the wretched door once more, hoping it would be out of earshot of Rood. I quickly opened the door, swung myself through it out to the main hall once more and stopping myself as I pushed my weight on the door to close it quickly, and slowly turned the knob again, and slowly and quietly shut the door.

I turned around again to the set of stairs leading to the mead hall, opening this door without any sort of squeaking problems. I poked my head above ground level so that I could survey the room before going into plain sight. No one was around. I tiptoed up the rest of the stairs leading me to the ground level, passing by the Companions' axe of legend, Wuuthrad.

I walked past the main dining table, which was completely clear of any sort of dishes, mead, or wines like it usually was. It was almost unsettling for some reason to see only the candlesticks on it. Hurrying to one of the doors that would take me to the back of Jorrvaskr, which is also where the training grounds were, I sped across the room before anyone else would enter through the doors leading to the main road of Whiterun, which was where all the warriors would probably be, or from downstairs from the main halls underground.

I quickly pushed the door open, and shut it behind me by leaning back on it. I sighed with relief again. _So far, so good._ I thought. Luckily, I was right. The training grounds were empty, and I was currently in the clear. I walked past a few small, wooden, square tables with a few chairs each, and made my way around Jorrvaskr, leaning against the wall so no one could spot me from the other side.

I slowly poked my head from around the building. Nobody. I slowly pushed myself off of Jorrvaskr, and walked to the other side of it. It felt like all of Whiterun was desolate. I started walking towards the main gate in the distance, and the closer I got, I could start hearing fighting, and some sort hissing...and bones creaking and rattling. We were being invaded by skeletons.

I began to run towards the gate, and it seemed to increase in size the closer I got, until I could begin to make out the wood grain on the massive doors. I reached out my hand to push the gates open, but I was tackled. I lied on the ground, thinking I had been caught. My eyes were clenched shut, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. So sorry." I repeated. No response other than a hiss.

I opened my eyes to find a skeleton with an iron axe standing over me. "Oh, son of a-" I started, smacking the creature with my sword and sending it flying. I stood up from where I was, lucky the thing hadn't gotten another attack on me. I had only been tackled. It ran towards me, and everything slowed down. I swung my sword again, and as my sword made contact, the skeleton seem to crumble to a black dust, which went _inside_ of me.

I sat there and gazed at the axe the skeleton had been holding. That was all that was left of it. Everything else evaporated, and I _absorbed_ it. _What the hell...?_ I thought. I started to freak out, not knowing what was going on. I stumbled over my own feet a little going backwards, and I gained my balance. I turned towards the gate _not _wanting to think about what just happened.

I pushed the gate open, and found myself in a war zone. The guard towers that were usually empty outside of Whiterun were full of Stormcloak soldiers,.equipped with bows and a quiver of arrows on their backs, a sword in one hand, a shield in the other. _Crap, I knew I forgot something..._ I didn't get a shield...or armor...I sighed again. Arrows were flying outwards from Whiterun in all directions, this wasn't just some small attack, this was a full-on invasion.

I stood still in front of the gates, paralyzed in fear, and chills down my back. I never would have expected this. I slowly walking out into open Skyrim, where the others were, defending there positions and homes. I tried to avoid as much attention as possible, which was hard because there were guards posted everywhere, even where the battle wasn't taking place as a defensive line. There was a skeleton inside Whiterun...shows just how good they were.

I continued forward from the walls of Whiterun until I found myself in an open field, away from the others, but still covered by a good amount of skeletons. I unsheathed my sword again, bracing myself for a fight. One skeleton lunged at me, and I reacted with my instincts, swinging my sword in the air after the dark conjuration. Once more, I felt the blade vibrate upon contact, but as soon as it was defeated in battle, it disintegrated into a black dust, which I only absorbed.

Another skeleton lunged, dead, another, dead, it seemed like an endless wave of them, and the fact that every time I killed one, it dissolved made it unsettling. After a good dozen of the fleshless soldiers slain by my blade, I came up with an idea. Usually, under normal circumstances, a necromancer is who controls things such as this. As long as the necromancer is alive, he or she could continue to conjure up these things.

If I could kill the necromancer and destroy the root of all this, it just may be enough to be able to prove myself. I made a mad dash through a large group of skeletons, holding out my sword to slay as much of them as possible, and as soon as I made it to the other side, I frantically looked all over in every direction as far as my sight could reach to find the source of the creatures. The problem was that they were coming from all directions, and found myself being surrounded on all sides. I boxed myself in.

They closed in on me, and whenever one left the group to attempt a strike, I turned them into the dust. I started to freak out, knowing how screwed I was. In a flash of silver, a half dozen skeletons fell to the ground, into a mountain of bones. With only a few more strikes, all the skeletons were cleared, and I found myself looking up at Max, no emotion in his eyes other than pure fury. I slowly showed a guilty smile, shrugging.

"What are you _doing_ here?!" He hissed.

"Why would you care? It's not like I'm needed alive. After all, I'm not dovahkiin."

"Go back to Jorrvaskr, _now_."

"No." I said bluntly.

"Why? What reason do you have to be here?" He asked angrily.

"You wouldn't understand." I said in a mocking tone, narrowing my eyes.

"Go, _now!_" He yelled, turning around and slashing a skeleton and causing it to fall apart.

"No." I repeated.

"Listen, I-" He started, looking behind me, and pushing me to the side and to the ground. When I looked back up, Max was standing where I just was, looking down. I heard a whirring of a passing arrow, and noticed where he was staring. I saw an arrowhead coming out of Max's back, and the butt of the arrow in his chest. Where my head had just been. He went pale, and fell to the ground.

I looked around, the skeletons were retreating, and the warriors cheered in victory. "Max?" I asked. No reply. I crawled towards him, holding back tears. "Max?" I asked again. He was still breathing, but barely, in short breaths, and he sounded like he was choking. I felt my lips begin to quiver.

"Nick..." He managed to say.

"Max...please don't do this...I-I'm..." I struggled to speak. "Don't...don't go...please." I began to sob.

A small smile appeared on his face. He was looking straight up into the sky and chuckled a bit. He swallowed hard, "D-don't worry Nick...we'll...we'll see each other-" He grunted in pain, "-in a little bit...just remember, you...you'll be...Revolutionary..."

"Max?" I asked, tears rolling down my cheeks. I felt a warm liquid running down my back and arm. A thick stream of blood was coming from my shoulder.

"It's alright...I'm just taking a...a little nap." He coughed up some blood. His eyes weren't focused on anything any longer, just staring up into the sky. "You know how much I love naps...right...?"

"Please don't!" I begged, resting my head on his chest, next to the arrow.

His lips were quivering. "I-I'm coming home Anri..." He fell silent, and he stopped breathing. His eyes were still, his face unmoving.

I began to cry again, begging for him to wake up. It stayed that way for awhile, nothing but silence other than my sobbing and begging. That was the last thing I remember before everything faded into an endless black void.


	4. Chapter 4- The Journey Begins

-Chapter IV- The Journey Begins

-Whiterun, Skyrim

-17 First Seed

-10:00 A.M.

-Nicholas

I awoke on a small, rough cot in the Temple of Kynareth. A woman was standing over me, rubbing my shoulder where it had been pierced by the arrow. My sight was fuzzy and the words she spoke sounded muffled, like something was clogging my ears. The room I was in was full of candlelight as well as sunlight, reflecting off of the face of the apothecary tending to my wounds, Danica Pure-Spring.

My sight was the first of my senses to return to normal. The colors began to contrast, and the shapes of the people and objects around me gradually sharpened. Still unable to hear very well, and body completely aching, and slowly sat up, holding my head up. I looked around me at the people who were there. The Sages, Danica of course, a few of the townspeople, and someone I didn't recognize.

She looked nothing like a Nord or Imperial. Actually, she wasn't even close to resembling any sort of race that hailed from Tamriel...or anywhere on Earth for that matter. She was tall and slim, had purple hair and lips and had large eyes. One second she was standing amongst the crowd, then in the blink of an eye, she was gone. I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times to ensure my eyes were not deceiving me.

Though I could just barely hear, I understood what Danica was telling me when she told me to lie down, especially since she was putting pressure on my stomach, trying to direct my body down. I obeyed. I looked back at the group, to check for the woman again, but she was still gone. I heard Danica's muffled voice, and I turned my head with pain in my stiff, injured neck back to where she was looking down at me. Slowly my ears adjusted so I could hear again.

"What are you looking at, Nicholas?" she asked. I didn't respond, instead, I pretended I didn't hear her. "Nick? Can you hear me?" I didn't answer.

I lied there amongst the crowd in shame, for what I had done, and what I wasn't, but that wasn't why I was really upset now. _Max__..._ His death was because of me, and me alone. He tried to protect me, he was my greatest friend, and yelled at him, calling him a liar and treated him like an enemy, and even afterwords, he gave his life for me.

I felt as though a part of me was missing, and a deep feeling of sadness of enveloping my stomach. I started to remember all the good times we had together. Once when I was very little and I had begun my swordsmanship training, I had failed miserably multiple times. One of the times I laid there unmoving, sore throughout my entire body, not wanting to get back up. He reached out a hand to help me back up. After a minute or two of rest, I took it, and he pulled me back up. He said that would have been enough training for one day, then guided me back inside Jorrvaskr.

We spent some time in his miniscule room, where we relaxed for a bit. I still clearly remember sitting at his side on his fur-stuffed bed, looking around the room and the objects within it, such as the small portrait of Max's family: him, his wife, Anri, and their daughter, Katrina. He handed me a few sweet rolls, which I excepted gratefully. Afterwords, I apologized for being so rude, stopping in the middle of our training session as I did, to which he replied that every great hero needed some rest, then gave me a small side hug, rubbing one of my aching shoulders. I still remember what I felt when he did, it was something I had never felt before...like a father. Now he was gone, only living in my memories, leaving me depressed and alone.

Danica turned towards my visitors. "Let's give him some rest, he still needs time to heal." One my one I watched the people leave. Danica turned to leave as well, but half-way through the room, she stopped, walked towards the windows letting in an abundance of light reflecting off the stone floor, and covered them with sheets, blocking the light and sending the entire room into almost complete darkness lit only by the dim candlelight and a single window near the ceiling.

She left the room and leaving me in silence. All I could do was look around. I wasn't tired, and I wanted to leave reality for awhile and lose myself in thought. I turned my head upwards, which was hard to do with my injury, which felt like an extremely stiff neck, there was a jug of water next to the stone platform I was on.

I noticed something against the wall near the door on the other side of the room. It was just a cardboard box, which looked like it had been neglected for years. I stared at it for what seemed like forever, my eyes never leaving the side facing me, I didn't know why I was staring at it, maybe just because I was too lazy to move my eyes, or there was another reason.

I blinked a couple more times, then looked for the lady again. There was something...unsettling about her. It was creepy how nobody seemed to have noticed her, and when she left, no one knew the difference, but she was real. It wasn't just my imagination, there was really someone there.

_Maybe she was a ghost__...__? _I thought, but then I remembered she looked completely different from any known species or race on Earth (or "Nirn" as Tamriel and some surrounding continents called it). Not Hyrulean, Alagaesian, certainly not Nord, and I didn't think anyone from the Four Nations or America would look like that. She was definitely...strange.

I now didn't care that I wasn't dragonborn, I just wanted Max back. I wanted to take everything that I had done the past few days, and have a redo, even going through the humiliation amongst all the viewers and observers of being unable to shout, to stop myself from going out there, and saving Max's life. Or at least take back my anger towards him beforehand.

After lying on the stone bed for hours of just silent thinking, I slowly start to drift off. The light of the sun setting outside was relaxing, and though where I laid was hard with only a mat between my back and the rock, it was warm nevertheless. My eyelids slowly got heavier and heavier until it seemed impossible to keep my eyes open, my head started to lower, and I eventually nodded off. My body relaxed, the pain in my neck faded away, I took a deep breath, and I found myself in a familiar place.

I looked around, I was back at the Concentration Camp, prisoners everywhere. I began to start to hear the sound of chains fading in, people crying for help and mercy, voices dry and ragged. Some begging for water, and others crying out in pain. It was night now in the strange world, so the entire fortress was lit only by torches, which glowed unnaturally bright, in their sconces on walls everywhere.

I heard a noise coming from behind me, like someone shuffling through grass. I jumped around as quick as I could, throwing my fists up and bracing myself for a fight. The strange woman was sitting in the air before me, levitating somehow, with the look of pure hope in her eyes. Her purple lips slowly turned into a smile. First she was looking me over, _inspecting_ me for some reason, and she simply nodded before opening her mouth to speak.

"Nick? Nicholas, are you okay?" I woke up with Danica looking down on me, feeling my forehead and then placing a rag damp with cold water upon it.

"Wh-what-?" I stuttered, sitting up, "What happened? Was there something wrong?"

She looked concerned at first, but I assume she thought I was fine after all, then explained, "I walked in here, and you were...mumbling to yourself. I thought you were awake, but then I saw you starting to behave strangely, so I thought something was wrong."

A moment of silence followed, "What was I saying?" I asked.

"I don't have the slightest clue, you were talking too fast and too quietly. Why?"

I looked down at the floor. "I don't know, I was just wondering." I answered blankly. "Am I ill?" I asked looking up at her, removing the rag and holding it up.

"Yeah, I think you may have a high fever, in fact, you still don't look too well now." She told me, walking towards me.

I lowered the rag down. "Thank you." I said, lying back down. She replaced the rag in its original position.

"If you are thirsty, do not hesitate to drink. There is a pitcher of water next to you," she said, pointing to the table above my head, "so help yourself. As for your wound, leave it be, and just let it heal naturally."

"Thank you." I repeated as she turned to leave once more.

"Oh...and Nick?" She asked.

"Yeah?" I answered, looking back at her.

"Don't blame yourself for what happened to Max. It wasn't your fault, it wasn't anybody's." She assured me with a concerned smile, then she turned to leave once more.

I set my head down on the pillow and tried to relax. All I could do was look up at the ceiling. I turned over so that I was on my side, and I caught my eye on the box again. There was something in there, something important.

I slowly started to get up, causing my neck to start to ache. My head was throbbing and my legs were weak, so I could barely stand. I slowly made way across the room, watching as the box slowly got bigger and bigger. At one point I fell to my knees, breathing heavily and feeling nauseous.

I was reduced to a crawl, determined for whatever reason to get whatever was in there. After awhile, I managed to reach the cardboard. I reached my hand up, feeling the smooth material beneath my fingers. I looked up, and slowly gathered the strength to pull myself to a crouch. A knife was lying on top of the box, but not just any knife. It was Max's combat knife.

I weakly lifted my hand and grabbed the knife. It was a small silver blade, with a fine steel handle. It was so sharp I wouldn't have been surprised to see it cut through iron. I delicately held it my hands, trying to be gentle as I could. This was Max's most prized possession, the last gift from Anri, before she was killed in an attack on Mariana. The sheathe was made of pure silver, with symbols of Ancient Rune engraved on it. Unfortunately, Max never told me what they meant.

I took the sheathed knife, removed the cold scabbard, exposing the gleaming blade. I took the knife, pointed it downwards and slowly inserted the knife through the crack between the cardboard flaps, cutting the tape that was keeping the large box shut. Once the tape had been completely severed, the cardboard sprung open. I carefully wiped the edge of the knife off with the edge of the box, to get rid of the adhesive still stuck on it.

I slid the knife back into into its sheathe, creating a _shing_ sound that resounded throughout the room. I opened the flaps of the box, first revealing a couple pages of paper. Written on it, was Max's will. The ink was still considerably fresh, gleaming in the dim light, which meant that it was recently written, at most a few days before. He had written out his will the night before the attack, like he _knew_ it was going to happen, that he _knew_ that he was going to die.

My hand started shaking as I removed the contents of the box. The first thing I pulled out was the biggest item in it, what appeared to be a normal sword with a bright golden handle and a sheathe of a bright silver steel. When I unsheathed it, it revealed a cobalt-blue blade, with a dark blue, nearly black, gem just above the cross-guard, and embedded in the blade itself.

I lifted the sword closer to my face to take a closer look at the gem. It was transparent and visible from both sides of the blade. When I touched it, I felt like I had been shocked with a massive bolt of lightning. I felt like my skeleton was being ripped out of my body as I watched as the black smoke emanate from my body and was sucked into the gem. Everything was still for a few moments, then it shone brightly, sending images into my conscience. It was like my life had flashed before my eyes...only it was multiple lives...and none of them were mine.

I saw places I've never imagined, unable to see them for more than a half of a second before going to others, certain events sped up, a plethora of people, adventures, places... Almost as soon as I saw them, I forgot them, only remembering a few points in time, like a picture burned into my mind. Amazing sights, allies...and killing. Looking down at the bodies, the death that I had caused, the pain...

I awoke (again) back on the stone platform with Danica looking down at me as though she was about ready to start scolding me.

"What the hell were you doing across the room in the state you're in?" She asked angrily. "If you wanted the box you could have just let me know. You didn't have to almost kill yourself."

"I almost killed myself?!" I started to panic.

"No, no. That was a bit of an exaggeration, but you shouldn't be getting up and moving around like that. It's not healthy."

"I-I'm sorry. I just-" I stopped. The words were stuck in my throat. The sword was just how I left it, but everything else was picked up. "How come the sword is just lying there?" I asked.

"Max told me about it...not to touch it."

"How come?"

"I didn't ask, but obviously he knew what he was talking about." She said, looking over her shoulder. "What I'd like to know is why he'd give it to you if he knew it did..._that_."

"What do you mean, _that?_"

Silence followed and lingered for a few moments, until she broke it saying, "You...you acted like you were having a seizure, but when I checked on you, you were completely fine. Then you started breaking into tears." I saw the worry in her eyes grow. "Nick, what happened? What did you see?"

"I-I'm not...sure." I said, a little scared. I still remembered the pain, like being ripped in half.

She sighed, then smiled. "Do you want me to bring the box over there? If you were going to risk your life to see inside it, it must be important." She asked. I nodded. She snatched the box for me, avoiding the sword still laying on the ground. I carefully sat up as she placed the box next to the bed. I removed the blanket off of me and wrapped it around me instead. I looked up at her and gracefully thanked her. I expected to leave once again and was surprised to see her stop at one of the stone pillars of the room and lean on it.

I smiled at her, receiving a similar action from her. I took a deep breath, then released it, trying to calm myself and clear my conscience of sadness and emptiness. I slowly put my arm inside, not knowing what to expect. I felt something warm and hard, with many smooth surfaces, as well as just as many rugged areas. I grabbed it easily with one hand, seeing as how the elliptical shape fit almost perfectly in my palm, and revealed it in the dark-golden light of the sunset. At first all that I saw was the black silhouette of the object, with rays of light surrounding it. I lowered it from the light to get a better view of it. It appeared to be egg, but I wasn't too sure of its origins, seeing how it was coal-black, with many curves and spirals jutting out of the egg, making it an imperfect shape. I examined it for awhile, repeatedly feeling its smooth surface that seemed almost comforting to the touch, warmth still radiating from the tiny stone-like object. I set it on my lap,

I again peered into the dark box before reaching my hand down into it, pulling out what appeared to be a helmet...for a blockhead. It was a light blue, square, shining helmet that seemed to fit me other than the fact that it was square. "What material is this?" I asked Danica as she walked towards me to take a closer look.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it isn't a metal or a fabric of any sort I've ever seen before." She knocked on it a few times, the sound that came from it certainly wasn't metallic. "Hm." She said, pursing her lips.

I set the helmet down next to me, then reached into the box once more. It was hard to see in the dimming light of the sunset, causing the room to illuminated in a dark orange tint. I again inserted my hand in the box-o-mystery. I found myself holding something I've always wanted ever since I'd ever heard of them.

It was a sphere with a red top half and white bottom half and a button in the middle, surrounded by a black line that went all around the circumference of the entire sphere itself. It was a pokéball. There was just one problem: I have no idea how to _open_ it. My eagerness was soon replaced with aggravation and confusion as I tried multiple ways to open it. I tried prying it open, pressing the button...repeatedly (which only caused it to make some sort of sound each time I pressed it), and lastly, begging.

"Pretty please with a sweet roll on the side?" I asked with a smile. Danica only shook her head.

After about five minutes of fruitless attempts, I just gave up and put it with the others. "Maybe it's just empty?" Danica offered.

"I think it still would open, wouldn't it?" She shrugged. After sticking my hand into the box again, I couldn't find anything, so after setting it down, I heard something small roll around in it. Danica and I looked at each other puzzled.

I turned the box upside-down to drop the item on the floor. It was a small golden ring with a pearl lining running along through the middle of it, as well as a small slip of paper, which simply read: "You will be Revolutionary".

"You will be Revolutionary?" Danica read, "I wonder what that's supposed to mean." Silence was all that followed. She looked at me with caring eyes. "You alright?" she asked softly.

I nodded "Yeah, I just miss him."

She lightly rubbed my back reassuringly, "We all do, I wouldn't worry about it now, he's in a better place. Whether it be Sovngarde or Heaven, he's happy."

I nodded again. "Thanks Danica." a said with slight smile.

"For what?"

"Healing me, caring for me...More than I can say." I said.

After a few seconds of her looking at me with a concerned look, she finally said, "No problem. Now get some rest, let your wound heal, okay?"

I lied back down, covering myself with the woolen blanket. I turned over and she blew out the remaining candles in the room, plummeting it into complete darkness. I heard the door start to shut, then Danica saying, "Oh, and don't get into anymore trouble, alright?"

"Only if I have to." I said jokingly. The door shut, sending a loud bang all throughout the room, repeating itself again and again, each time slowly getting quieter, then silence. I eventually fell asleep again.

Once more I found myself in the mysterious world, only this time not in the fortress, in the middle of an open field. I could feel the wind blowing whistling in my ears, stinging them with a slight chill, and the warmth radiating from the sun onto my neck, with its golden light reflecting off the flora around me. I heard the sound of running water from a small creek nearby. I watched as a group of mushrooms bounced up and down, and stacking on top of each other, then going back to how they're original poses. It was like I was really there.

I turned around to see the sun suspended in the bright blue sky, spreading the warm sunlight across the land, creating shadows from the miscellaneous objects obstructing the light's reach. I started moving forward, looking around, then stopping and looking at the ground.

It was some flowers with a pair of peculiar butterflies fluttering around them, with images on both of their sets of yellow wings depicting smiling faces. One flew up to my eye level and I reached out an arm towards it. When I did, I noticed my arms looked extremely different. They were really thin, with my hands reminding me of a flower on its stem. I stood in awe at the strange look my arms had taken.

I continued walking forward until I stubbed my toe on something metallic, and it _hurt_. That didn't happen in dreams. I look at what I stepped on to find the blue sword. I turned around to find the place where I woke up, and it was the exact distance I was from the weapon as I was back in the temple.

I slowly picked the sword up, examining it. Then I looked at the gem again, touched it to see if I would get the same experience I did the first time. I was relieved to find that it didn't. I raised a hand and looked at it in its current state, then slapped myself. That hurt too, which only meant one thing: I wasn't dreaming.


	5. Chapter 5- A Whole New World

-Chapter V- A Whole New World

-The Fairy Glade, Polokus

-20 First Seed

-7:12 A.M.

-Nicholas

"Oh my god. Oh my god." I repeated to myself, pacing back and forth through the grass with my hands grasping on my head. "How? How is this possible?" I asked myself. I turned to look at the sunrise once more. Back in Skyrim, it was sunset. I assumed that I was somewhere on the other side of Earth...I just didn't know where.

"You're not on Earth at all." A female voice came from behind me. I raised the blue sword, ready to go on the offensive, but I found myself looking at the women that I had seen back at the temple and in my dreams.

I readied my sword to strike. "Who are you? Where am I?" She didn't respond, only smiled and shook her head. "Answer me!" I demanded.

"Welcome to Polokus, Nicholas Swiftsword." She said, opening her arms. She was still floating just a meter or so in the air, so that she was just barely looking down on me. She still had her legs crossed as though she was sitting on the air itself. She still didn't make any sense, and I still didn't know what was going on. I didn't lower my sword nor my guard. "I see you've gotten the sword, which tells me that Max has passed?"

I lowered my sword, shocked that she knew Max, as well as the fact that he is now deceased, which only depressed me at the mentioning of his fall. I opened my mouth to speak but not a word escaped my lips. I stood there in silence, not knowing what to think. "Who are you?" I asked again, this time softer.

"My name is Ly the fairy, and I need your help." She said.

I sheathed my sword. "Why _my_ help? And why am I here?"

"I sent you here because I need _your_ help. You..." She trailed off. "...You'll find out eventually." She said with a small grin.

After a few minutes of the only sounds heard being those from the animals and environment around us, I finally broke the silence, "What is it you need help with?" I asked, giving up on trying to resist. It wasn't like I had any other choice in the matter.

"I take it you've seen the pirates' fortress?"

"You mean that massive robotic prison camp?" I asked to be sure.

"Right, I need you to take it down."

At first I thought she was just kidding, it seemed impossible for me alone to go and secure a post that large and well guarded. "You _are_ joking, right?" I asked with a slightly concerned chuckle. "You don't really expect me to go in there single-handed destroy all those guards, free the prisoners, and conquer the base, do you?"

"I do, but first, you'll need to take a trip to the heart of the world, where the primordial core is located."

I thought that I was lost in thought again. "What?" I asked.

"Just hold still..." She told me as she started to move her hands around almost creating a sphere in motion. I thought she was just crazy until I started to see something glow from within her palm. My eyes widened as she opened her arms wide, sending the orb of gray light straight towards me.

It started to disband the closer it came to me, then started to surround me when it came in contact to my torso. The lights circled my body, then closed around me. They all entered my body, and I could feel the power surge through my body, circulating through my veins, and I felt a thousand times more energetic.

"What was that?" I asked her, raising one eyebrow.

She looked at me and smiled. "You'll find out soon enough." _Oh great. _I thought. _Now the crazy, floating, purple-lipped lady is putting things in me that I have absolutely no idea what they are. Yay._

"Alright then..." I said, eyebrows raised. "What next?"

"The core of the planet." She said simply.

"The- whoa, wait, the core of the what-now?"

Without a word, she pointed somewhere behind me. I followed the direction her finger was pointed with her eyes, which made me turn around. What I saw was a square stone about one third of a meter in both width and length with a spiral carved into it that focused in the very middle of the object. I walked toward it doubtfully. Stopping every other step and looking back at Ly. She still stayed suspended in the air, watching me with almond-shaped eyes. The closer I got to the stone, the more energy I felt surge around me. Once I got within a range of a foot, a light spewed from the stone and surrounded my body, appearing as though I was being sucked into it. Then when I touched the stone, I really _was_ sucked into it.

For a short moment everything went black. When I opened my eyes again, I was being launched into the air, landing safely on a grassy bank in a completely new area. The small strip of land of which I stood on followed a river of stars, with multiple swirls similar to the one on the stone, but red with a yellow core. I took a few steps forward to get a better view of the scene. I walked to the edge of the grass, and peered into the stars.

The stream of portals seemed to go on forever. When I reached my hand down towards the nearest one, it started to move. I jolted backwards in surprise, taking a step or two further inland. I heard tiny wings flutter quickly getting louder from behind me. I turned around, unsheathing my newly accumulated sword and pointing it at the figure.

"Whoa, whoa." He said with his arms outstretched, trying to keep his distance. "Calm down there sparky. And put that thing away, you could poke an eye out with that thing.

I didn't say a word as I put away the weapon, and after a few seconds, I blurted out, "Who the hell are you?"

"Hey, don't use that kind of language with me. It's not nice." He said, flying in circles around me.

"...what?" I asked, confused.

He sighed, "Okay, look. I'm Murphy, and I have absolutely no idea who _you_ are, but Ly seems to trust you, so, why not?. Let's see..." He trailed off, as though trying to remember what he was going to say. "Right!" He remembered. "Alright, we need you to save Rayman, yada, yada, yada, defeat Razorbeard and safe Polokus! These portal lead to places all over the planet, and a few that lead to a neighboring planet, Swizzle Firma, but that's information for later, so let's just put that into the back seat for now."

I didn't even know how to respond. I assumed my silence made him think I was nervous. "Hey, don't worry about it, it'll be all over in about...oh, I'd say a chapter or two. So let's get right to it! Whaddya' say?" He finished with a big grin. I still wasn't sure how to respond. "Look," he sighed. "We need your help, and you're not getting out of here unless you give it. And besides, you wouldn't wanna quit now, would ya? I mean, just think of the readers! It wouldn't be much of a story if you stop it right here, would it?"

"...What?" I asked, puzzled.

He sighed again, "Are you in, or not?"

"...sure?" I answered, not seeing any other option. How I looked at it, I had been abducted by aliens who need my help saving their hero who was taken by intergalactic space robot pirates.

"That's the spirit! ...Sort of. Now, I know you're not from around here, so let me tell you what you need to do is use the portal that leads to the core of the planet, where all the fairies and Teensies live, rescue them, and use the only portal that the robot-pirate army has NOT destroyed leading into their fortress, which they are using to transport the Teensies from their homes and into their wretched prison."

"And how exactly do I find that portal leading to the core of the planet?"

"_That's _the easy part." He said, backing up, then coming at me at top speed and knocking me off balance, causing me to stumble backwards off the grassy bank and into the endless sea of stars, where I fell into a portal. The next thing I knew, I was flying again, only instead of a grassy knoll to safely land on, I landed face first on a yellow stone floor.

I slowly got back up. I felt like my back had been repeatedly beaten until it was covered with bruises. I looked at where I had entered, which was a larger portal hovering above a smaller version of The Hall of Doors, this one best compared to a large puddle of the mystical stars. I turned around to find a throne made of the same stone as the yellow floor, as well as a group of five or six of the robot-pirates forcing quite an amount of small, blue, long-nosed creatures, each wearing robes and a small crown upon their little heads above miniscule black dots for eyes, which I assumed were the Teensies.

The pirates themselves looked somewhat menacing, then again I hadn't really been outside of Whiterun most of my life, so I hadn't really seen anything that threatening before. They're heads resembled metal skulls with red eyes glowing fiercely. Their heads were placed on box-shaped torsos, each adorned in torn red rags that improvised as jackets, connected only by a short, thin neck that wasn't anymore than a robotic spine, and on each side of their torsos was an equally thin arm before meeting their hands, which were metal boxes with a hook as one arm, and a gun taking the place of the other. The spine was visible again underneath the box chest, leading to another metal box, from which, sprouted two legs that were just steel rods just as the spine and arms were. Each leg was covered with the same material as their shoulders and chest were, and at the end of those were flat-bottom feet, with golden buckles that shone brightly in the light that came through the stained-glass lighting above the portal on top.

I watched as the Teensies, one by one, were kidnapped and forced inside their cages. If one tried to resist, they were immediately held at gunpoint by the only robot that was an exact duplicate to the others, but instead adorned in a cloak with green material contrasting to the red on the other uniforms. Anger built up inside of me as I watched the abuse, and the soldiers hadn't realized I was in their presence. I instinctively unsheathed my sword, bracing myself for a fight.

Just as the pirates bolted the last cage shut, the tip of my sword revealed itself in the chest of the green-suited robot, which attracted his lackeys' attention. The next thing I knew, three were making a mad dash at me, and the other two kept their distance to shoot at me. Not making a move until the nearest one was within a meter away from me, I simply sidestepped to the left, causing one of the pirates to shoot one of their own as I stuck out a leg, tripping the first pirate. As he fell, I grabbed his hook arm while he was still in midair, and using the momentum from his tumble, I swung him around me in a circular motion, throwing him back at the last to run at me, causing them to blow up. A piece of shrapnel from one of the two was the last one's fate, hitting him on the head and separating it from his body, which also exploded.

"That was almost _too_ easy..." I said, suspicious. I used the tip of my sword as a screwdriver, placing it in the bolt and turning it counterclockwise, loosening it. The top popped off of the barred, metal, cube, releasing the Teensie within and exposing him to the colorful light.

He pulled his own tiny crown out from his robes. He nodded in thanks towards me, walking towards the other cages. "We thank you so much for rescuing us!"

"No trouble, no trouble at all." I said, unscrewing the next cage. "Are all of you alright?"

"I'm not exactly sure, we are but a small amount of the Teensies. The rest are already trapped in Razorbeard's prison camp."

"Then not for long." I said, undoing the last cage. I looked over my shoulder at the portal the robots were using for the transportation of their prisoners. "That will take me where I need to go?" I asked, pointing a thumb past my ear and towards the blue swirl.

"Yes, it will take you to their training camp, where they first retrieve us Teensies, followed by wherever they go to next." A second Teensie with a higher pitched voice told me, dusting off his crown.

"Alright, if it goes to the training camp, how am I supposed to get past all those soldiers?" I asked to myself, remembering all the robots I saw in my dream.

"I thought you said you had no trouble?" The first Teensie asked sincerely.

"With five. I'd be undoubtedly doomed if I tried going against even a dozen on my own, especially with their guns..." I said without realizing I was still talking aloud. "I've got no other choice..." Without thinking, I leaped headfirst into the portal.

As soon as the portal expanded so great that it was behind me, I found myself flying towards a different-looking pirate, one with a red doo rag with whited polka dots on top of an oddly shaped head with an underbite, connected to his body by a neck similar to the other robots', however, his head slouched forwards. His chest was yet another box, with arms a little thicker than my own, with hands that were about my size. His spine also connected to his lower body just as the other robots' bodies did, but this one's lower body was a teal with a brightly-colored yellow cloth with red polka dots tied around his waist, which led down to his clunky feet, which had a leather strip wrapped around each one. When I flew into him, he fell to the floor with his body completely dispersed.

This was the robot captain. I slowly stood up, wiping as much oil and grime off me as I could, looking at the pile of parts on the floor. "Whoops..." I said, grimacing at the assortment of a once-living being before me. An idea soon developed in my head-gruesome, but a plan. I reluctantly bent over and picked up a hand of the body, dripping with thick, slick, black oil.

It was somewhat disturbing, not the idea of the oil, or the parts, but the fact that they were just _sentient_ not even a minute prior, thinking for itself. I took a deep breath before wiping the oil and other substances unknown to me off the metal hand, then prying open the molding, revealing the wiring within. I tore it out, leaving it hollow. Using my sword, I managed to cut out a hole that would allow my arm to pass through.

Opening the hand, I placed my own hand into it, acting like an outer shell. My wrist fit perfectly through the hole, and in no time, after repeating the process dozens of times, was wearing the skin of the robot captain. A few spots were cutting into my flesh, which I simply either cut the corner of the piercing metal or, in the few cases where such a process wouldn't work out well, I would tear off a strip of the cloth that made up either the doo rag or the material tied to the waist of my disguise.

The first complication in this mission was a pirate dressed in the red jacket walking in on me hacking at the wires of the pirate captain's head, leaving only a part of the skull that I assumed was the speech box thing, which I hoped would allow me to sound like a pirate when I spoke. Which I assume was both a scary and awkward situation for the pirate grunt. He started to back away towards the entrance of the room. I raised my sword and threw it at the intruder, sending it flying through him and blowing him up in the process. One thing I've already noticed about the pirates, they either blew up into a cloud of smoke once killed, each appendage flying in the direction it was pointing, or the only case being the one I was wearing the skin of, simply falling apart into a cluttered mess of pieces on the ground. Then again, I didn't really defeat him, rather plowing into him.

Once I was done with the task of finding a way through the pirates without causing the entire fortress going into alert, I heard cries of help. I turned around to where the portal was, finding a pile of cages that were also exact duplicates to the ones I freed the Teensies from on the other side of the portal. I scavenged the room for anymore cages, looking through the several machines and on the numerous tables and things alike and taking every cage I found and putting them in the middle of the room. I explored the remnants of the robot pirate I had killed just minutes ago for his weapon. Once I found it, I removed the captain's hand from my own, then emptied the plasma cannon from the robot grunt I vanquished except for anything connected to the actual weapon part, which was actually most of it, so my hand was left with minimal space. However, it still worked.

I raised the gun and gazed at it in the reflection of the light illuminating off of the portal. I lowered it to the pile of cages, taking aim at the top one. I saw the eyes from within the cage get wide-eyed as I shot the first red ball of energy at it. It worked perfectly, blowing the cage apart and releasing more Teensies from their tiny prison. Each cage released one more Teensie each, and when I was done, a crowd of Teensies surrounded me, all thanking me with the utmost sincerity.

I watched as one by one, they disappeared into the portal, along with each of their shiny crowns, which I still wondered why they all had. One stayed behind, however. "We all thank you, once again, great hero, but there are still more Teensies, as well as most of Polokus's population to be saved, as well as Rayman. If you rescue Rayman, I can almost guarantee that you'll have a much easier time saving everyone. Just a piece of advice, which I hope is as helpful as can be." He said before jumping into the portal and joining with the others of his kind.

I took a deep breath, "This is going to be harder than I thought..." I sighed. "Saving an entire planet..." I thought aloud. I left the room in my metal suit with my sword safely stashed in my chest cavity along with its sheath and sword belt, wrapped in the cloth that was originally tied around the captain's waist to keep it from causing any unwanted sounds of metal banging on metal.

I walked past the sentries as casually as I could, trying to act completely normal. Apparently, I must've looked like the captain would have, as well as carrying himself just as he would've, therefore, no one seemed to know the difference. I eventually found the entrance to the training academy, which led me to the courtyard. It was a large, open area with buildings that towered over the land menacingly. The grass beneath my feet were black and withered, covered with oil and trampled beyond ability to be revived for some time. I walked through the open land, passing multiple groups of hostages led by three or more pirates each, every pirate I came across saluting to me as I passed. I only ignored them, for my mind was somewhere else, concocting a plan to obliterate this scar upon the land. I was only biting my time. First, step 1: an underground uprising.

As I walked around aimlessly, a pair of green-cloaked pirates made their way towards me, where they stopped and saluted, awaiting me to give them the "at ease" order. Once I gave it, they immediately reported in their strange, electronic voices: "Sir, Prisoners 0004 and 0024 are refusing to continue with their duties. We await your orders."

At this point, I was glad to have left in that speech box thing, because it actually worked. "Take me to him, I will personally take the matter into my own hands."

"Yes sir!" They said in unison, both saluting. They immediately lowered their arms and escorted me through the busy, yet dead land until we stopped at an entrance to something that looked like a tunnel. We walked through the tunnel, which had a steep, flat surface going upwards to wherever they were taking me. We were walking on what resembled a sidewalk with the slope being the road.

After about two minutes or so of them leading me up the tunnel, we eventually came out into the open, where the sun shone brightly, reflecting off of the black ocean with lights that burned into my eyes. This was the same ocean I saw in my dream, with the same large pipe spewing a thick stream of waste into the ocean. Swimming in the ocean was a large whale, and a hulking creature with a large chin that I thought resembled a pelican's, standing next to the pipe, who looked like he was about to rip me apart. He was surrounded by robot pirate guards.

"I'm not doing anything, if you want me to do things, then you're gonna have to make me." He said, getting closer and closer to me, standing over me. He had wide shoulders with large arms with muscles bulging, I found him...intimidating. The pirate to my left took out a remote and pressed the only button on it, a large, red one, as if by instinct. As soon as he pushed it, the prisoner yelled out in pain while his massive body fidgeted. I raised an arm to call off the device, to which the robot pushed the button again, and the prisoner's body relaxed, and fell to the ground. Every other second, his whole body would tremble momentarily while his eyes grimaced in pain.

After a few minutes of watching this atrocity, one of the pirates that was with the prisoner before we came in pulled him up, hitting him hard with the back of his hook hand, creating a high-pitched _ping_ noise upon contact. After repeatedly doing so, the victim's eyelids twitched, and slowly opened until his blue-tinted eyes were once more wide open. He looked up at me in fear and shock, now remembering his place to the other pirates.

"I'll take care of this one." I said with the robotic voice vibrating in my head. "You all leave here, except for you three." I said, pointing my cannon arm at the two that lead me here and the prisoner's torturer. Once the pirates left the metal layered beach with the black oil water and large barbed wire fences surrounding it, as well as the designated section of the beach itself, I looked at the prisoner.

"Sir, this is prisoner 0004," he said, pointing his hook at the hulking mass of fear sitting before me, "and that is prisoner 0024." He finished, pointing his arm gun at the behemoth whale in the waters.

I nodded, still looking at Prisoner 0004. His fear automatically changed to hatred and confusion. The look on his face was unforgettable when I shot off the heads of the three pirates I kept behind. He was wide-eyed and his jaw practically dropped to the ground. He took a couple steps back away from me, cornering himself with his back to the enormous pipe leading back to the rest of the prison camp. I grabbed the cannon off my left hand and removed it, freeing my cramping hand into the warm rays of the sun, still glowing brightly in the dawn behind the ocean.

I stretched my fingers individually by bending them, opening and closing my hand into a fist, hearing my knuckles crack. Once I was done with that, I took one of my fingers and slid it into the extra space I had made for my wrist on my right arm, opening its shell as well. Repeating the process of stretching my hand, without as much cramping this time, however, I reached my arms up to my head, removing my metallic helmet and revealing it to the fresh air, the sun warming my neck, the wind whistling past my ears, and the strong, heavy scent of oil in the air.

I looked at the dumbfounded prisoner once more. "Name?" I asked plainly.

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, like he was deciding whether he should give out the simple information.

"Look, I'm the good guy here. You can trust me, especially with something as small as a name." I persuaded.

"...Clark." He said slowly.

"And that one?" I asked, motioning my head backwards toward the ocean, where the whale swam in the filth of the oil.

He had more confidence in his voice this time when he spoke, "Carmen."

"Okay, so you wouldn't to know where I can find a prisoner by the name of 'Rayman', would you?" At the very mention of this name, Clark's face lit up like a Christmas Tree. I large smile grew on his face from ear to ear, white teeth showing and all. He ran to me and lifted me in the air using his hands like a platform.

"You're gonna save Rayman? You're gonna beat Razorbeard!" He yelled, spinning around in a circle along with me still on his hands. I almost fell off before he slowed down and stopped.

"So I take it you know where I can find him?" I asked dizzily. The whole world still continued to spin, all in a blur as it moved across my vision.

He lowered me back to the ground, lowering his head along with me. Without looking up, he said to me, "Sadly, no. I have no idea where Rayman is kept."

I sighed, not knowing what to do next. Then I realized: this could be the perfect way to start the uprising. I pointed to the pipe, "Do you know where this leads?"

He nodded excitedly. "I heard the robots talking about it. They called it the 'Robot Manufacturing Plant'."

A smile crept its way onto my face. _Perfect_. Then I realized something else. "What kind of idiot leaves you in charge of making sure the pipe leading from somewhere like that works properly?" If you asked me, it was poor planning on their part.

"If I didn't do it, that robot would shock me." He said, pointing a strict finger at the third dead pirate's head, sitting on the ground at my feet.

"So why'd you rebel just then?"

"I didn't know what else to do." He answered simply.

We sat there in silence for a moment or two, the only sounds coming from Carmen the whale in the ocean still at my back. "What's her purpose?" I asked, pointing a thumb over my shoulder back at the sound of lapping water.

"The robots use her blubber for fuel." He explained. I didn't really see how that worked, seeing as how if that were true, I was pretty sure she'd be dead. However, I didn't question it.

"Could I ask you of assisting me?" I asked him, to which, he nodded vigorously. "Wait for about 20 minutes, if you could, continue doing whatever you're supposed to be doing." As I talked, he only continued to nod, his attention completely on me. "If there are any pirates here at the time, kill them." I said, smashing the remote that the third pirate had. "Now that the remote's destroyed, you won't have to worry about that, alright? Destroy the pipe, then follow it, and destroy as much of the Pirate Reproduction Plant as you possibly can." When I mentioned destroying the plant, his face lit up again. "That should help keep the pirates' numbers from replenishing or increasing."

"Got it!" He said to me. I replaced the robotic helmet over my own head, as well as the hands over my own, concealing them in metal once again.

"Once you're done with that," I said, turning to leave, "find me, and while you're doing so, destroy as many robots as possible." His teeth showed again in another bright smile.

I entered the tunnel once more, taking a deep breath to clear my thoughts. The next place I'd need to visit would be the actual prison cells. I thought about my next move as I walked down the slope of the tunnel with the only sound being that of my heavy, clunky, metal body's footsteps echoing endlessly in the dark, lengthy passageway.

When I finally reached the other end of the tunnel, I found myself in a crowd of robot pirate grunts walking through the flatland of the courtyard. I decided to map out the area in my head for possible future reference. I left the group, and started to follow the walls of the fortress. The wall turned a small number of times, and when I pictured the overhead view of the layout, what came to mind was a pentagon, with tunnels or training camps aligning each wall, and at each point, was a larger building that towered over the rest, and for whatever reason, each were numbered.

The tunnel leading to the ocean was on the top-left wall moving upwards to the top of the pentagon, between buildings numbers 1 and 5, 1 being the uppermost point of the pentagon, and the opposite corner being five. The numbers increased for the buildings counterclockwise, and after walking through the courtyard the long way, there was another building similar to the building tucked away in the corners of the pentagon. The biggest similarity was that it, too, was numbered: 6. I assumed each building had a significant purpose, but I didn't linger in thought for very long on the subject, especially when I finally found the prison cells on the opposite side of the fortress as the ocean's entrance, in the building labeled "3".

Before I entered, there was something attached to the middle of the door, and when I moved my face closer to it for a better inspection, it released a beam of light that moved up and down, scanning my face. Once it was finished, the light retreated, and the door opened on its own. I walked inside carefully, making sure I was keeping watch from all directions that something could pop out and attack me from.

While I was taking the extra precautions, however, I ended up completely lost. The fact that all the halls and passageways looked exactly the same, like it was all looped did not help my sense of direction whatsoever. The only thing I could do was gaze at all the starving, thirsty, helpless prisoners and their depressed faces. The fear in their eyes that appeared when they caught sight of me made me feel ashamed for a reason unknown to me. It wasn't me that they were afraid of, but my exoskeleton.

After aimlessly walking for a few minutes, I estimated that I only had a small amount of time before Clark would break loose. How much time exactly I wasn't sure. There were still so many obstacles that I needed to surpass before I could really attempt anything: the force field that domed over the pentagon, the six buildings, the endless amount of pirates that we'd have to fight our way through. And even if I somehow managed to pull through all of that, I'd still need to find a way to defeat Razorbeard. It seemed helpless.

I looked up from the wooden floor that had been worn down by the constant abuse of the heavy, metal feet that were almost always stomping across them of the prison cells when I realized I had become deeply developed in thought again. When I did, I found what might have been the answer to my problems. In the large, circular room I was in there was a sort of cage that differed majorly from the rest, it was a force field similar to the one that covered the fortress, only in the shape of a pillar in the middle of the room, up on a raised platform, sat a prisoner whose body almost reminded me of a frog.

He was somewhat chubby, with arms that reminded me of my own; really thin, with green-tinted hands at the end of each one. His feet were webbed, he was a shade of blue-green, with a flat head without a chin, or nose. His eyes were tinted blue just as Clark's was, with black dots as pupils, also just as Clark's, and sat like two eggs on top of his head.

He sat in the middle of his chamber, depressed. The room I was in was full of green-cloaked robot pirates, and even a few that I did not recognize. Their heads were slim, also wearing a doo rag just as my suit was, a golden hook contrasting to the other pirates' iron, their chests more of a trapezoid shape, with a belt wrapped around them, more decorative boots, with a more normal foot shape. Unlike the others, also, they did not wear any jackets, instead exposed their sleek, black bodies and faces. However, just as the other pirates did, they were equipped with a cannon, too.

The closer I got to the prisoner, the more pirates seemed to get in my way. And when I reached the control panel in front of the prisoner's mini prison, a walking barrel with eyes glowing from a rectangular hole cut into them entered from another door, walking on two feet and, not having any arms, had a weapon attached to its head. He walked towards me, and I feared that I had been discovered, but he only walked right past me. I sighed deeply with relief, sending more hot air into the already steaming metal suit.

I looked over the high-tech panels aligning the bottom of the wall just beneath the cage that the prisoner was in. _Is this Rayman? He seems to be a high-class threat to the pirates if he's locked up like this, away from the others._ I felt something tap my shoulder. As quick as a flash and without control over myself as I did, I raised my left hand and pointed my gun at the special pirate that was made of the black steel. He didn't seem surprised that I had pointed a weapon at him, but he looked confusingly at the gun.

"Sir, what is it that you need?" He asked.

I lowered the gun. "I need the room cleared, I want to speak with the prisoner. Alone."

He seemed hesitant, but not long afterwords, he nodded. "The captain requests that the room is cleared!" He yelled with his electronic tone in his voice that bounced off of the wooden walls and ceiling in the enormous room. They immediately stopped what they were doing, whether it have been working at the panels, guarding the cage, or just loitering about the room for no specific reason. I turned around to see the mysterious figure lift his head and looked at me. His eyes had fear in them, but it was mostly shrouded in depression and loss, like he had given up on life. Like he had lost everything.

I watched in pity as I waited for the room to empty. I heard numerous doors closing all at once, then a stampede of feet making the sound of wood banging on metal. Once the sounds faded out of earshot, I looked around in the room. I was almost completely alone, the only ones in the room being me, the prisoner, and the black-skinned robot.

I glanced at the panels still on with screens glowing green with white letters. I looked at the other pirate in the room, who was saluting. I nodded, then shot him, creating a hole in his chest followed by him exploding. I turned to the prisoner one last time. I couldn't help but smile at the confusion in his eyes, which was greater by far than Clark's reaction.

I walked to the panels, not taking my eye off of the prisoner. I found one panel that displayed a large switch that was in the "off" position. I took a metal finger and touched the image, though nothing I touched was solid, so my finger passed through some. I flicked the finger in the opposite direction than what it was already set on, sliding it to the right, and turning the switch green and big, white letters appearing above it displaying the word "on".

I listened to the harmonious sounds of all the doors leading into the room locking all at once. Through small windows in the doors, I saw robots hear the noise as well, taking on a dumbfounded expression on their metal faces, which was really only shown by the enlarging of their eyes once they realized the doors were then sealed. I looked to the panel next to the door lock switch, seeing that it was another hologram of a switch. I repeated the process just as I did with the last panel.

I looked up at the prison cell to watch the force field evaporate, and a part of the top of the cell slowly lower to the ground to act as stairs. As I walked up the stairs and watching the fear and confusion in the prisoner's eyes increase until his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head, I shed my robust second layer, allowing my skin to breath in the cool temperature of the room, compared to the hot, humid disguise. I let the chest drop off of me, sending a loud _clunk_ through the room, echoing itself until it slowly faded away into nonexistence. I bent over to retrieve my sword, still wrapped in the yellow cloth.

I removed the fabric to first reveal the belt, which I straitened out from its originally bent position that I forced it into to save room. The dark-brown leather was creased at the folds, but I ignored them at the time, still standing before the prisoner and showing him my true identity. Lastly, I ripped the remaining material from my sword, causing it to shine brightly once again in its unique hue of blue. I looked up at the frightened prisoner, the light reflecting off my sword and giving his skin a darker tone of blue.

"P-please don't kill me. I-I won't-I won't tell anyone I swear!" He pleaded.

"Ease your stress, I'm not here to kill you, but rather, the complete opposite." I said, brushing any scraps of the shredded strip of cloth off my sword and rust off my black leather tunic. "Are you Rayman?"

"Wh-...no no, I'm not Rayman, in fact, I was expecting him to find _his_ way here and save me." After a moment of silence other than the quiet cursing under my breath, which I hoped he was unable to hear, he broke the stillness. "I'm Globox." He said, reaching out an arm.

I smiled at his gesture. Shaking his outstretched hand, I said, "Nicholas. But you can just call me Nick."

"So you're looking for Rayman in specific?" He asked worriedly.

"Well, no. I've just been..." I paused to find the right word, "...informed, that I should seek him out, and he would lift a heavy burden from my shoulders."

"...I did not understand a single word of that." He said simply.

I rubbed my temples trying to find a way to word out my thoughts in a way that would be easier for him to comprehend. "The Teensies and Clark told me that if I found him, he'd be a great help to me."

"Oh, okay. So you helped Clark out too, huh?"

I was surprised he knew Clark. "Yeah, in fact..." I trailed off, realizing that he should've attempted his part of the plan by now.

As if on cue, the entire area started to vibrate, first slightly, then quickly transforming into a vigorous earthquake. Large explosions could be heard from a far distance away. I assumed he did it. The quaking continued, and the pirates started to bang against the doors, trying to get back in to find the problem, but once they peered through the windows, they saw me and the freed Globox, and their red eyes grew twice their original size. I moved towards the nearest door from the containment cell to watch the confusion.

One pirate shot at the door, immediately tackled by his comrades, just barely knocked out of the way of the returning ball of energy. The doors were bulletproof. An intense rumbling rose above the earthquake, becoming more intense every second it continued, before Clark burst through the door on the opposite side of the room. Behind him, dozens of robot pirate corpses lay in his wake.

"GLOBOX!" He yelled with arms reached out from either side, running straight towards us. He closed his arms around us and held us up in the air with his literally breathtaking hug.

Globox was just barely able to let his voice out through his struggling for air. "Hey...Clark!"

I guessed my choking was what made Clark set us back down. "Where's your family?" He asked Globox.

He looked down at the ground. The depressed look on his face reappeared. That must've been why he asked if I was only looking for Rayman. "I don't know," he shrugged. "They could be anywhere in this place."

I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting myself into, but I took pity on Globox. "Well I guess we'll just have to find them, now don't we?" His face automatically lit up with joy.

"Well let's go! There's no time to lose!" He eagerly yelled. He started to run for the door Clark had busted forth from, where I pulled him aside just in time to watch a glowing red plasma ball fly through the door. He looked at me and gave a nervous laugh.

"I've got an idea." I said, frantically alternating my gaze from the doors, the panels, and back at Globox and Clark. "Clark, I need you to rip these doors out of the walls, you and Globox will use them as shields. Got it?" He gave a quick nod of his head, and turned around quickly, and ran to a door. "Globox, I need a name of each person from your family." I said over my shoulder as I ran to the control panels.

I prayed that they had what I hoped they had on them. I quickly ran my fingers over the panels, and as if by magic, images appeared on them. Globox began listing members of his family. "Uglette, and all of my uglings." He said quickly. I looked at him dumbly, at first thinking that he was joking. I was going to scold him for playing around at such an inopportune time if it weren't for the name "Uglette" and multiple results for his children, all under one category of "uglings". I stared blankly at the screen in disbelief.

"Alright." I said dumbly.

"Hey...what's your name?" I heard Clark ask.

Without looking away from the panels, informing me of the locations of Globox's family's locations, I answered without paying attention, "Nick." I said, looking down at the multiple buttons with letters and numbers on them and then back at the screen. They certainly didn't have _this_ sort of technology back in Skyrim.

"Oh, okay. Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?" I looked up from the screens. Clark was standing at the other side of the room in front of me with a tower of doors held high over his head.

"What now?" He asked. Again, I stared in disbelief.

I shook off the confusion momentarily, answering his question. "Give one to Globox, that is, if he's able to hold it."  
>"I'm able to hold it." He boasted as he was handed a door. He had to hold it with both hands, one at the handle and one at the window, but he was surely holding it. He raised it like a shield, proving its efficiency.<p>

"Perfect." I said, returning my gaze to the panel. I had discovered other information, including who the pirates' models that I had encountered so far. The pirates in general were "henchmen", with purple jacketed, which I have yet to come across at that point (according to the computer, they were mainly produced for outside operations, such as retrieving smaller, weaker creatures from Polokus and returning with as many captured as possible), red jacketed, the second-class of their model, and the top-grade, the green jackets. Then there were others such as the "ninja pirate", which was the higher grade of the henchmen that I had ordered to clear the room, and the "barrel pirate", which was, of course, the oversized, walking barrel with eyes and a gun strapped to his head that I had seen crossing my path not to long ago.

While I was browsing the vast amount of information, I came across one name that seemed to stick out to me: Matthew Rains. He had funded Razorbeard's fortress, allowing them to afford the high quality technology that they had in their possession. Apparently, Admiral Razorbeard had recently made an alliance with an organization named "The Blood Knights", and in agreement to capturing Polokus, Rains would continue the flow of Credits, which were the intergalactic form of currency, unlike on Earth, where we use multiple forms: septims; rupees; dollars; euros; gil; copper, silver, and gold pieces; and in some areas, people even excepted rings. All belonging to their respective countries. Back at the matter in hand, I needed to find out more about The Blood Knights, but there was no more information of use on the subject on those panels.

I had also came across Rayman's location, or _locations_, rather. I was sickened to discover that he was split up into sixths, and each part was now locked up at each of the numbered buildings I had noticed prior to entering the prison cells. I took a deep breath as I took a few steps back away from the panels. Then I noticed the battle that was already in effect.

Directly in front of me, the henchmen were entering the room and shooting at us. I quickly rolled backwards and slipped around one of the two doors that Clark was holding up. Despite the attack, and the dozens of pirates spilling into the room, I was somewhat satisfied with how well the doors were working as shields.

A storm of energy balls shot from the pirates' cannons flew at us, but not a single one doing any damage whatsoever, because the plasma only bounced harmlessly off of the doors, and were each sent directly back at the pirates. As each one was struck by their own attacks, they all blew up, one by one, like watching fireworks. Before too long, the room was empty except for one or two pirates who were smart enough not to dare shoot again in fear that it might also come back and betray them.

I quickly dashed through the length of room at the robots, who, in response, shot at me. As a natural instinct similar to flinching, as one flew towards my face -everything in slow motion- I rose my sword up into the air to block it, and to my surprise, it deflected the blast and sailed through the air straight back at its shooter, who blew up upon impact. I looked endearingly at my sword, the very same instrument that had seized me when I had first came into contact with. It was now my greatest ally. I turned my head at the other robot, who I watched run for his life down the hallway, before turning around the corner and out of sight.

I sighed in relief, looking back at the other two, who had lowered their shields. The shields were both efficient, and effective, I knew were Rayman was, Clark destroyed the pirate production facility, which was what I assumed was that loud explosion Globox and I heard. Next step: free the other prisoners. I ran out the door I thought I came in and gazed at all the different passageways. I turned to a random one, finding myself in front of piles of cages strewn about. I raised my sword and opened each cage, one after another, and released all the prisoners trapped within. Clark also assisted in this matter, crushing the cages and breaking the imprisoned inside free.

We made our way to where Globox's family was being held, leaving nothing but metal debris behind us, freeing dozens of slaves, all of which almost never looking like another, and annihilating any robots we encountered. We made our way to another room a lot like the one Globox was being held, only there was only empty space in the middle of the room replacing a cage like Globox's. The only cages in the room were small, barred rooms along the walls. Inside one, was a figure that strikingly resembled Globox, only this one was obviously feminine, and was a shade of magenta.

"Uglette! uglings!" Globox yelled, running to the cage with the female him and the one next to it, filled with mini-Globoxes.

"They're Uglette and your uglings?" I asked.

"Yep!" Clark's voice bellowed.

"Alright, so all that remains is Rayman." I said.

"And the slaves." Globox added, sliding the cage doors open.

"Right. Globox, do you think you and your family can destroy the rest of the cages?"

"I think we could. Yeah." He nodded in affirmation.

"Good. Clark, you're with me." I said, turning around to where Clark stood.

"You're just gonna leave Globox and his family alone?" He asked.

I thought about it for a moment. "Alright, you go with Globox, and I'll see if I can save Rayman."

"Got it!" He said, stomping his way towards Globox and the others. Without looking back, I made a mad dash for the entrance to the room we came through. Next step: free Rayman.

I ran through the plethora of halls containing the imprisoned, obliterating any cages that I could, as well as opening any cells similar to the one Uglette and the uglings were in, and eventually found myself running in circles. All the halls looked exactly the same, so it was difficult to distinguish the differences between them. They only differed by the prisoners that roamed around, still disoriented on what to do next.

After many mistakes and tiny bursts of rage that burned within me once I realized that I had copied my route yet again, I managed to discover a set of stairs in a side hallway leading away from the others going upwards. Though I had no idea where I was going, I decided to take the risk and venture up the stairs.

The stairs led me to a small entryway, allowing me either to continue or turn back downstairs. I continued forward, finding myself in an enormous room...filled with Henchmen. They were all guarding something in the middle of the room, closed behind a large containment unit, and what looked something like a shoe.

All the Henchmen spotted me at once before I had a chance to even attempt to conceal myself. They raised up their weapons and simultaneously fired, sending a wall of plasma towards me. I raised my sword in defense, reflecting a section of the red substance that was just over my size back at the robots, causing a portion of them to explode. The remaining sentries ran towards me, stopping not to far from me. One shot at me, which I deflected back at a pirate trying to flank me, I swung my sword at the pirate that had fired, causing him to split in half. A second pirate tried hitting me with his hook, which I caught in my sword. I twisted my sword, causing him to do a back flip and fly off my sword at a crowd of his own.

With the hook still on my sword, I turned around to hit another pirate, making the hook fly off at another. One tried to grab me from behind, as a response, I stepped on his foot and bashed his face in with my elbow, making him fall to his knees. I held him up in front of me as a human-shield, protecting me from a barrage of red balls. I swung around to throw the pirate at his own comrades.

Soon enough, the room was cleared. Looking around for a final inspection, I was pleased to see a completely empty room. I turned to the object being locked up. I paced the circumference of the case, looking for a way to open it. Before long, I found another device similar to the one outside the building that opened the door, only this one had an indent shaped like a hook and was attached on a pole facing the case. I looked at the floor to my side, where the broken and beaten henchmen I used as a shield lied. I bent over and ripped his hook off of his arm, shooting sparks everywhere, harmlessly bouncing off of the metallic floor.

I placed the hook in the indent with a perfect fit. The beam scanned the hook, and a green light glowed above the console when it was finished. I removed the hook and hung it loosely on my sword belt. The room filled with smoke as the case rose, allowing me access to the object it contained, which was, in fact, a yellow and white sneaker. I shook my head in confusion and gripped it tightly. Apparently, I gripped it _too_ tightly.

It flung itself out of my hand, bouncing around everywhere aimlessly. "What the hell?" I whispered to myself. It jumped towards the stairs, where it tumbled down, hitting each step. "Wait up!" I yelled at it. I went back down the stairs to the ground floor, where the shoe sat motionless. I picked it back up, half expecting it to move on its own again. After a minute of stillness, I assumed it was either my imagination or it was dead.

I held the shoe low to the ground, sheathing my sword back in its scabbard. I cautiously made my way out of the building, making sure not to backtrack again. I backed out of the facility with the shoe raised up in front of my face to guard myself. I turned around to see the courtyard in chaos. The prisoners had rebelled, and had overrun the pirates, destroying them in every way imaginable: tackling them, kicking their heads off, or in Clark's case, disassembling them with one punch. The pirates were on the run.

Without any resistance, I ran north to the next point in the pentagram, Building 4- Training Camp. I entered the building, somewhat remembering the layout. I ran through the large, open rooms and long, thin halls until I discovered yet another staircase leading up. It was practically a duplicate setup as the last one, only the room with the case was free of pirates. I removed the hook from my belt and placed it in its indent just as I had done with the last one. I replaced it back in its place once the case rose, this time releasing a white hand, which was very disturbing.

I took the hand and felt its smooth surface in my palm. It was warm, which did _not_ help my situation at all in thinking that it was terrifying. Although I very reluctant, and with some struggle, I eventually pinned the hand down by stuffing it in the satchel of my sword belt. Afterwords, I had no troubles at all. I left Building 4 to continue the quest for the rest of Rayman, but when I went to the courtyard, I was expecting it to be full of either prisoners, or henchmen, but it was completely empty.

"Where..." I trailed off, looking around. I looked to the sky, where the force field still glowed brightly. The hand and foot shuffled in my satchel, then jumped out. Faster than what I expected to be possible, the hand threw the ground beneath it behind it, sending it into the air and flying forwards, repeating the process once it landed back to the ground, and the foot bounced forward in a similar manner as I followed them, first at a light jog that quickly turned into a sprint. They made their way to the center building.

The appendages stopped at one of the doors leading to Building 6. At first the hand felt the door for a way to surpass it, I assumed. However it abruptly got angry when its efforts came out fruitless, showing this emotion by grabbing the shoe and flinging itself into the air, hurling it into the steel door, creating a loud _thud_ as the sound reverberated through the empty plot of land. After observing the enraged pieces of Rayman, I walked to the door and decided to examine it myself.

There were two scanners similar to the one that scanned my face not long ago and the two that opened the prisons of the two body parts, so I simply placed the hook back in its perfectly-shaped indent. After watching in awe once more as the blue light followed the length of the curved metal, the door flew apart down the middle, each half of the door retreating in opposite directions, revealing the darkness of the inside. I cautiously walked in, unsheathing my sword and holding it up to deflect or reflect any possible traps.

After about a minute of holding my paranoia, I slowly lowered my sword when I discovered a large, red lever in the up position. With both hands, I pushed down with all my strength, flipping the switch and lighting up the red-yellow light bulb beneath. I turned around when the lights illuminated the entire building, finding the hand and foot wobbling to the center of the one-room building.

The walls and floor were completely white, so much so that it burned my eyes to look around, and the light from the blue containment unit similar to the one Globox had been kept in was reflecting off the floors, only assisting in blinding me. To protect my eyesight, I had to squint, and I could barely see. I immediately walked to the containment unit, searching for the scanner device that would open the futuristic cage. I managed to discover another one, but instead of it being a hook shape, it was fitted for a tiny hand that had all five fingers melded together.

Realizing that there was no way for me to open it normally, I looked up at what I was freeing. It was actually two items, one being what I assumed was the torso of Rayman, being a purple oval with a flat bottom and a scarf lying on top of it, in the middle of the purple was a perfectly round white circle, and an orb of light similar to the one Ly gave me earlier levitating above it. Only this one was a bright gold.

I lowered my head back to the console in front of the barrier, and I had an idea. I pulled my sword out of its sheathe and stuck it into the console and turned it, sending sparks of various sizes in every direction upwards, then fading out as they reached the floor. A bolt of electricity consumed the entire console as I pulled the blade back out of it and backed away, replacing it in my sword belt. It made a tiny explosion, busting half of the panel on the surface and destroying the scanner.

A second later the barrier had a bolt of greater size consume the bottom of it, and it burst in multiple places before the light faded into oblivion, revealing the part of Rayman and the sphere of light. The other pieces and I slowly came closer to the smoking machine, and when the foot and hand got close enough, the torso sensed it and hopped up off of the pedestal it was placed on and landed about a quarter of a meter in the air above the shoe. A second later, the hand flung itself in the air to the torso, sticking the same distance to the side of it. Once the hand balled itself into a fist a few times, it hung loosely with the fingers reaching down just beneath the purple torso. Then it fell to the side it did not have a foot on.

After observing this act I continued to the sphere. It glowed brightly and shot at me before I was two meters away from it, encircling me just as the first did. Once I absorbed the light, I felt energy surge through me, which concentrated in my hands, which were having muscle spasms. After it was finished, I felt something inside of me awake. I felt like I was going to explode with energy before my hand shot a golden ball at the wall, which bounce off harmlessly and came flying back at me. I ducked just in time for it to graze past my hair and continue going.

I felt my hair for the area it touched, but it was completely unharmed. I turned in surprise when I heard a pirate explode. Apparently, the ball continue and went through the door as soon as it was opened by a group of Henchmen. It hit one of them and caused it to explode. The rest aimed at me with their weapons. I flung my left hand to my sword still in its place, but when I did, another golden ball was sent out of my palm. I examined my hand in shock, but was snapped back to reality as I was shot in the face by one of the red balls. It felt like someone had punched me with all their might.

I rubbed my cheek where it made contact, then threw myself over the console and ducked behind it. I glanced at the struggling half of Rayman, which still wobbled helplessly. I readied my sword and my hand, ready to attack once again. I flung my free right hand to the sides as I strafed constantly to avoid the balls of pain. Whenever one got close, I simply impaled it or cut it in two causing it to explode and keep any others at bay, and when there was a shot fired that I couldn't dodge, I deflected it with my sword. The odds were in my favor, but there was still something that bothered me, _what happened to the others?_

Eventually the crowd of attackers began to thin out, and I had less troubles clearing them out as I slowly covered ground towards the door leading outside. They started taking cover, which wasn't too much trouble seeing as how the balls _I _shot bounced off the walls behind them and got them in the back. At one point, I found myself in the open in the middle of the courtyard, shooting down any pirates that revealed themselves, however, this was short-lived and was stopped when I was shot with a bolt of electricity from behind. I fell to my knees, paralyzed in both surprise and pain. With some struggle and rebellion from my limbs unwilling to do what they were told, I managed to stand up on both feet.

My vision was darkened and was tinted in red and my body felt uneven, so I was constantly leaning one direction or another. I reached my arms out for something to catch them and enable me to stabilize myself. I looked behind me at my attacker, finding a barrel pirate standing before me with a small trail of smoke leading from me to the laser attached to his head. He sent another bolt at me, making another direct hit, and I was once more sent to the ground. Once I was down, the other pirates started sending massive barrages of balls of plasma towards me, forcing my body to lie flat on the ground helplessly.

I was being pummeled, being flung in every direction, only to flop down to the ground again. I looked up, and I saw Clark, bashing in multiple robots at a time, then jumping high in the air, balling both hands to form one giant fist. He sent his weight down to the ground as he fell, landing his wrecking ball-like hands down on the head of the barrel pirate, forcing it to cave in on itself. As he was doing this, a figure appeared in the distance...

As is came closer, becoming more distinct with every step it made towards me. Max. He stopped at my side and reached out a hand to pull me up. "I...thought..." I whispered.

_I will always be with you._ I heard his voice in my mind, I though he was thinking through me. I grabbed his hand and lifted my weight up so that I was standing on my feet again. _Now go. Here's your chance._ He said before vanishing into thin air. I blinked in confusion once or twice, then understood what he meant. The Henchmen were distracted, I need to free the rest of Rayman.

Unsteadily, I walked back into Building 6, and grabbed Rayman's body by the hand, dragging him behind me. I ran as fast as I could without falling over myself, and watched as the next building grew in size and revealed more detail as I drew closer. Eventually I was able to make out a large number 2 on the facade of the structure, just as the other buildings had for their numbers. The next thing I knew, I was inside the building, limping through the large rooms, climbing the stairs, and in front of the console. It felt like I was nodding off, conscientiousness coming and going.

I leaned on the console for a minute or two, catching my breath and getting my thoughts together. I took a deep breath, puffed out my cheeks, and slowly let out the air through puckered lips. I was having a migraine, and the harsh, bright florescent lights weren't helping. I rubbed my temples slowly until the pain went away, and as soon as it subsided enough, I unsheathed my sword, and forced it into the console. Sparks flew, and explosions pierced my eardrums, strengthening the pain.

As the case was destroyed, I sunk to the ground, leaning against the console. I felt like I was being consumed, the pain reached down my neck and crawled down my back, traveling through my spine to my thighs and extending to my arms and legs. My muscles locked up, and I was left unable to move, and whenever I tried, the limbs not only didn't respond, but they ached. My sword violently vibrated, causing it to slowly come loose from the switch. It landed at my feet and the gem glowed brightly, burning into my retinas. My vision was consumed by the blue light the sword emanated, increasing the pain. I grunted through clenched teeth as it continued...then nothing.

I relaxed my wincing face, and looked around. The other hand was reunited with what pieces of Rayman I had accumulated, the pain was gone, and I felt normal again. I blinked in confusion, and delicately picked up my sword. I cautiously stood up expecting the migraine to make a reappearance, but it never did. I sighed in relief after about a minute.

I made my way out of the building while dragging Rayman behind me with one of his hands while the other one reached down to the ground to maintain balance. I walked through the courtyard now covered with robot parts. I searched for any sign of Clark as I walked to where the next piece of Rayman should have been held, and I found him out of breath on top of a pile of Henchman torsos. He saw me and waved with a big grin that showed large, white teeth, then pointed out in the distance where the black body of water was, but when I looked in the direction, I saw clear blue water, which seemed illogical, but I wasn't complaining. Then Carmen the whale leaped out of the ocean and spurted a large stream of water from her spout before landing back in her waters with a mighty splash that I could hear from the hundreds of kilometers away I was.

After enjoying the sight, I immediately turned my attention back to the task on hand. I walked across the black-stained grassland surrounded by the nearly conquered fortress, and as I walked, I noticed that the oil on the grass reflected brightly in the moonlight, gleaming through the large barrier still hovering over the facility. I hadn't realized it was nighttime until then. I finally reached the door of Building 4, where I opened the door to find Globox.

"Hi! Just thought you might need some help." He said, handing me Rayman's other shoe.

"Wow...I certainly wasn't expecting to see you here." I said. "What happened to the other prisoners?"

"They all left."

"Left? And you didn't?"

"Well, Uglette and my Uglings left, but I stayed because I thought I might be able to help by 'lifting a heavy burden off your shoulders'." He said with a smile.

I laughed. "Oh, and here you go." I said turning to Rayman and tossing his shoe at him. At first he was thrown off balance at the impact of the sneaker hitting his chest, but he immediately got back to his foot and placed the second shoe on the ground.

"Where'd you all go to when I left?" I asked as we ran back out to the courtyard.

As I ran, Rayman's body ran with me, but every now and then I would have to steer him in the correct direction, or else he would run into something or stray off, so it was only a distraction before I was able to reach our final destination: Building 1.

"Well, Clark said he was gonna go and kill some pirates, and I went to where he was being held to let the other prisoners go once the ocean was clean again. Carmen carried them across the water on her back. Then I came back here to help, and I saw you running to that building over there," he pointed to the building I was just at, "so I went to the one we were just at." I have to admit, I respect his bravery. "And just in case you needed some extra help beating the rest of these robots. And of course Rayman is my friend, so I'd like to be there when he is put back together."

I nodded in understanding. Although I didn't really know what it was like to have a friend, other than one person who I also saw as a teacher, I could see just why he would want to be there for his companion. I sighed. I didn't want Globox to be in any sort of trouble, especially any that I may have been able to prevent, I weighed the consequences, seeing that Globox may, despite my rejection and any orders to stay put, try to come along anyway to assist in any manner he could. If he was going to, I might as well would've known about it. After a moment of an internal argument regarding the choices displayed before me, I decided to grant him permission to join me to avoid any unwanted atrocities. At least this way I knew where he was and I could keep track of him.

Wanting to be rid of the fortress that surround me for good, I grabbed Rayman's hand to lead him and ordered Globox to follow me as we made our way to our final destination and the place of which Rayman's final missing body part was. I sped through the gradually yet still noticeably reviving terrain to where the final building was, but when I began to near the looming building, something stopped me. Globox and Rayman continued running until Globox noticed I had stopped in my tracks. He reached out to catch Rayman before he got too far ahead, then walked to where I stood in confusion.

"What's wrong? We're almost there!"

"Wasn't there supposed to be an admiral? Someone in charge of the whole operation?"

"You mean Razorbeard?"

"Yeah. How come I haven't come across him yet?"

"He probably already left. When he saw you putting Rayman back together, he might have ran!"

"Maybe...I just have a...peculiar feeling about this..." I shook the feeling off and began to speed up my pace again to Building 1. "Never mind. Let's just go." I said behind me.

The doors opened when we neared them, allowing us access into the structure, and I quickly searched for the stairs that would bring me to the containment chamber just as the other buildings had, or another way to signify that the room was behind the door. As we wandered about the building, I heard Globox say something, but I couldn't make out what it was. "What?" I asked him as I turned around.

"Could this be it?" He asked, pointing a finger to an enormous set of doors resembling all the others, only 5 times their sizes.

I quickly scanned them. "Seemingly important large doors in the middle of the final building that would normally be full of highly secured areas, guarded my numerous sentries all about? I think you may be on to something here." I told him as I cautiously walked to the grand doorway. However, there was one problem: there was a keypad that I assumed locked the entrance.

"How will we get the passcode?"

There was a loud banging coming from the opposite side of the doors. "You won't!" Said a heavily metallic voice that echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and resounding through the air. My eyes widened as I understood what was happening.

"Run!" I yelled back at Globox. I turned to escape too before a blast that obliterated the doors threw me to the other side of the room. The world around me flashed red as I made contact with the wall with my head, leaving me disoriented and confused. My head pounded heavily as I stood to examine the attacker. He was short, with baggy striped pants and a steel beard grafted to his square metal head just below his sharp yellow eyes, half concealed under a large pirate hat with a robot's skull in front of two scimitars on it. Although he had a short stature, he was somewhat intimidating as he slowly walked to me.

With a snap of his fingers, a hovering chair flew into the room from where the explosion came, and floated above him. After a second as if to gather its next objective, it sped forward and stopped again above me. A red beam shot down from beneath it, enveloping me within it, shocking me with such a high intensity that I think I may have lost consciences for a short time of about a second or two. When the torture was over, the robotic figure stood over me triumphantly, as though he had just won a war or done something no one of his kind had ever done before. I weakly raised a hand to strike him, but was unable to keep it in the air for very long, and it dropped to the ground with a loud thud.

Everything around me began to blur as if I had been surrounded by a think haze, and began to darken. However, just before everything had vanished, something jumped into my vision from the corner of my eye and toppled Razorbeard. The attacker, was Rayman, with his head back on. He leaped into the air and skillfully landed on the chair still floating above me. He swiftly punched his hand into the seat, impaling it with his fist, which wouldn't normally be awe striking, but when he pulled his hand back out, he almost had a glow outline him. He quitted his position just as the gravity-defying furniture sparked, then quickly exploded.

He landed on his feet before Razorbeard, who, although he only showed it through his beady yellow eyes, had the expression of intense fear. Rayman walked to him, and was about to strike him when Razorbeard knocked Rayman off his feet. Anger developed within me, urging me to stand and fight. Though wobbling, I was on my feet, and withdrew my sword, light glinting off of it from the intense florescent lights above us on the ceiling.

I threw myself at Razorbeard, swinging my sword in the air as to slice him just as I did with so many of his comrades, when he simply sidestepped out of its path. He pulled out a metal box with a big red button on it, and pushed it. A massive, bulking henchmen walked to where Rayman and I were, holding up an unconscious Globox.

"Globox!" Rayman yelled. Still Globox showed no sign of movement, but hung there loosely upside-down. I steadied myself, preparing to fight.

"How about you play fairly and call off your friend?" I taunted.

"What? And leave the field uneven with two against one? And you accuse _me_ of playing unfairly." He responded

All I could do was glare at him. Rayman ran to where Razorbeard was a jumped in the air, and as he fell unleashed a ball of energy from his fists. After seeing this, I realized I didn't have the same feeling of power centered in my wrists any longer. Razorbeard's guard leaped in front of his master, and the projectile harmlessly bounced off of his silver body. I ran to where the hulking machine now was, sticking my sword into its upper leg, which it easily tore through. Using this as a foothold, I jumped off of it and, in the highest point of my ascendance, kicked him in the face. As is fell back down, I grabbed my sword again, bringing it back down with me and slicing the leg in half.

I examined my work with delight, seeing how well my weapon could withstand even my unique fighting style. The hulking mass of metal confusingly looked at its disfigured leg, and stared helplessly as it fell to the side of which the weakened support was. With a heavy crash it landed, still very much alive but helpless. I laughed at how easy the thing was to be defeated, and walked up to it to impale its head as to finish it off, but was caught off guard as it grabbed me with a blink of an eye, and with a firm grip, threw me about the room, smashing me still in its fist with a heavy impact at every wall possible.

My savior was once again Rayman, who jumped onto the arm the fist that held me and rendered me useless and jammed his fist into the metal, similar to the way as he did with the chair, and I assumed unleashed a stream of energy balls inside of its inner workings. Then, removing his fist, he split the arm and I fell to the ground. I again stumbled as I recovered, but, albeit not as skillful as what Rayman had done, sprung into the air, and plunged my blade between the eyes of the henchmen. A quick spark quickly crawled around the machine's head, then up the blade of my sword. I was surprised to see the peculiar metal of the weapon to be enveloped in a large blue lightning, and was even more surprised to find myself unaffected completely without even the slightest shock. I turned to Razorbeard, wielding the electrified sword. A grim smile graced my lips as a gruesome idea formed in my head.

Rayman had been taking Razorbeard head-on, using his fists at every moment the opportunity came while the admiral was equipped with a pirate-style handgun shooting the same energy blasts that I had been using and avoiding the whole day. I began to sprint towards Razorbeard as he had shot Rayman in the hand, knocking him back a distance away. When he heard my footsteps, he quickly turned to where I was and raised his firearm to fire, but I knocked out of his hand with the butt of my sword, spun around and split his chest open, electrocuting him in the process. After a moment where I thought I was victorious, he slowly stood up. I was about to attack again before getting shot in the back, sending me to the floor. Razorbeard now stood over me with his wires spilling out from his damaged torso. He kicked me back to the robot that had shot me, and he was joined by a group of other robots of the same kind.

I began to stand again, despite the world around me spinning, but was quickly foiled when a henchman struck me hard with his metal hook, laughing. I was breathing hard, and although I had no visible wounds, I felt as though I were covered in bruises and had been mercilessly beaten. I got up once more, and the pirates continued to laugh. The same one began to raise its hook to hit me again, and as it flew down, I caught it. Only for a moment there was silence as the henchman and I stared at each other, then I twisted his arm around, and, meaning to take hold of him, was surprised to see it become amputated. I stared at it dumbly while the robot looked at me in horror. I looked back at him then struck him with his own arm. Another ran toward me and I knocked him off balance by smacking him with the same arm, which I threw at a third. At once, they all stormed after me.

I spun around, sticking my foot out and tripping one then an uppercut sent his body flying to a group of two others and the head, which had came off with the blow, ricocheted off the wall and hit Razorbeard. I raised my sword and cut an arm cannon off one and it randomly shot, which I used to annihilate three more, then threw it as it blew up. I leaped to the air and landed on a metal head, then bounced randomly across the room, dismantling each robot I fell on as I pushed my feet away to jump to the next. I threw my sword down at an angle, impaling two at the same time, then I sent myself into a sideways spin and, with the force of the fall and the speed of the spin, smashed my fist into Razorbeard's head. I landed on my feet, and watched in humor as the admiral stumbled, and hardly was able to get up. I walked to my sword and retrieved it, then stared at my fallen enemy. He looked at me, and laughed.

I heard a heavy stomp, and, before I even realized what I was doing, sent my blade horizontally through a barrel henchman. I blinked when my instincts faded, and watched the top half of the robot fall of the bottom half. My exhaustion suddenly overtook me, and I fell to my knees, breathing heavily.

"No!" I heard a cry, then sparks flying. I looked behind me, seeing Razorbeard standing over me with his gun pointed at me and a stunned expression across his face. He had a clean, circular hole straight through his chest. He fell down to reveal Rayman standing behind him, breathing just as heavily as I was. I laughed, then collapsed to the floor. Not that I was forced to the ground, I could've sat down, but I instead succumbed to the exhaustion that still held me. I lied there, still trying to catch my breath. I lifted my head to see Rayman wake Globox up before walking to me. He stretched out an arm for me to lift myself with.

"I'm good...just going to...rest here..." I said between gasps of air.

He smiled. "Thank you. For saving me, helping my friends, defeating Razorbeard...everything."

"Heh, don't thank me. I didn't do all of it, and God knows I wouldn't have been able to without them."

"Yeah, but we still wouldn't have been able to do it without you." After a small coughing fit, I smiled. He looked up from me on the ground. "Ly!" This got my attention. I looked up so that the world around me was upside-down to see Ly as such, still floating above the ground.

"Hello Rayman, Globox, Nick." She greeted, nodding her head to each of us as she listed our names. She stopped hovering so that she begun to fall, but swiftly landed on her feet with a light brushing sound as she touched the ground. She smiled as she walked to me. I got to my feet as quickly as I could, though I still ended up looking up at her.

"So...Nick? That's your name?" Rayman asked behind me. I turned to him and gave him a short nod.

"Nick," Ly said as I turned back to her, "thank you dearly, for what you have accomplished here tonight, saving not only these lands, but possibly the entire world. Your cleverness to disguise yourself as the enemy, your strength defeating every one of Razorbeard's forces that you did, the bonds that you have formed with those around you. These tributes are what assisted you, and you used them very wisely. If it weren't for your bravery, we all still would be under Razorbeard's tyranny, with no hope left." She turned her attention to Rayman, "the friendship that you have acquired tonight with Rayman, I believe, should not go unused, but rather, embraced."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Through Rayman's expression, I could tell he shared in my confusion.

"Maybe, he should join you."

Rayman lit up, "but what about here? What if something else happens?"

"I can now communicate with Nicholas if need be, so if something _were_ to happen, I can easily alert you of our need. Your destinies are now intertwined, and you shall work together, for your journey has barely even begun and you will need all the assistance that you can get."

Now it was Rayman's turn to speak. "Would it be fine if I were to join you?" He asked me.

I answered without hesitation, there was no doubt in my mind. I nodded. "Yes, I would be honored if you would join me, Rayman."

With those words, a light enveloped me, surrounded me. It was stronger than the one Ly had given me, this was pure white and so intense that it nearly blinded me. The last thing I saw was Rayman staring at me in awe.


	6. Chapter 6- A Gathering of Guardians

-Chapter VI- A Gathering of Guardians

-The Celestial Plane

-20 First Seed

-9:48 A.M.

-Max

He looked around at his surroundings, consisting of nothing but a black void that seemed to continue in every direction forever, with only the ground dimly illuminated by miniscule white lights floating about. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before stepping forward to where the others supposedly awaited. He smiled as he began to feel their presence.

"Greetings, Ly." He said quietly. "So, what do you think?"

He heard her light laughter resound through the empty world. "I must admit, you were right. Nicholas certainly is 'the one', seeing as how Rayman's golden lum didn't cause his whole body to burst with energy and kill him."

"Did it have...?"

She smiled. "Yes, yes it did."

"And the silver lum?"  
>"Yes." She assured him. Max didn't reply, but left silence follow, allowing it to desperately cling to the air until it was broken by the sound of wings flapping in the distance.<p>

Max smiled with a small chuckle under his breath. "Princess Celestia!" He said just loud enough so that the nearing figure could hear. "So nice of you to join us."

"It has been awhile, I'll admit." She anwered when she landed on the invisible floor.

"How's _your_ champion doing?" He asked with a slight sense of lighthearted sarcasm.

She smiled. "She's doing just fine, but I'm quite surprised that she wasn't the Power Keeper, keeping the last in mind."

"Sapphire?" Ly asked in conformation, to which, Celestia sadly nodded.

"However, I think I will still grant her her wings, that is, if she can correct Starswirled The Beared's spell, just as...she...did." Celestia said.

Max gave a slight nod in agreement without a word. Ly turned to Max. "I'm still surprised Nicholas took your death so well. He didn't even seem fazed at all."

Lowering his hand near to the ground with his palm up for one of the tiny sparkles still lighting the nearby area to land on, he replied, "He was at first, but I think that he's suppressed his sadness, as well as a few other emotions." Once he at last caught a speck of gleaming white light, he slowly rose his hand in front of his face for a closer inspection.

"Won't that leave his conscience vulnerable to..." Celestia trailed off. It was Max's turned to nod in reply.

"Hello Max." A voice came from behind him. He lowered his light and turned his attention to the next one to enter the conversation. He lowered his gaze back to his specimen. A smile graced his lips as he welcomed the newest guest.

"Hello Gardevoir."

"So Nick has been to Polokus, what next?" Gardevoir asked the others.

"That depends on what Drennen decides to do next." Celestia answered.

Max looked up to see the others join the discussion. He closed his eyes with relief and delicately closed his hand around the light still in his palm, feeling the warmth eminating from it. He heard Rali be the first to speak, at first greeting Ly, then Celestia. They were all here. The guardians of the Power Keeper.


End file.
